Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would suspend gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1 for 3 days from 31 August to 2 September, citing the need for maintenance.
“According to the technical specifications provided by Siemens (Editor’s note: German energy company), the unit must undergo technical maintenance every 1,000 hours”, the Gazprom press release published on Friday 19 August states.
The company then assured that gas transport will resume at a rate of 33 million cubic metres per day after the maintenance operations, “provided that no malfunctions are identified”.
The announcement comes in the midst of a debate in Germany about the need to extend the country’s last three nuclear power plants beyond 31 December 2022, to avoid energy shortages as a result of reduced gas supplies from Russia.
Speaking at a meeting with citizens on Sunday 21 August, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, ruled out such a possibility.
He added, however, that he might consider extending the operation of a nuclear power plant in Bavaria if the current stress test of the country’s electricity system shows that this is necessary.
On the European Union side, Member States had agreed on Tuesday 26 July to reduce their gas demand by 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023, on a voluntary basis, based on a proposal for an EU Council Regulation introduced by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13000/1).
The EU Council then formally adopted the proposed Regulation - which includes the possibility of making the 15% target binding by triggering an ‘EU-wide alert’ - on 5 August, following a written procedure.
The Regulation will enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
See the Regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/2s6 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)