The Russian Gazprom group has asked the German Siemens group to return a turbine repaired in Canada in order to ensure the continued operation of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Gazprom submitted an official request for return on July 15, the Russian company said. A spokesman for Siemens Energy said that basically no information on the condition of the turbine or where it is currently being released.
Gazprom has submitted an application to Siemens for receipt of the “documents that enable the export of the Portovaya station turbine,” said a statement from the Russian group with a view to the compressor station near the Russian city of Vyborg. He is counting on “that the Siemens Group unconditionally fulfills its obligations for the repair and maintenance of gas turbine engines, on which the reliability of the operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the natural gas deliveries to European consumers depend”.
The Siemens spokesman referred to a company statement from last weekend, which said: “Our experts are currently working flat out on all other formal approvals and logistics.” The aim is to “transport the turbine to its place of use as quickly as possible”.
No gas has flowed through Nord Stream 1 since July 11 due to maintenance work; Whether Russia will open the gas tap again after the work, which Berlin estimates will take about ten days, is open. Since mid-June, Gazprom has severely curtailed gas supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline, citing the defective turbine.
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Because of the Western sanctions against Russia, it was initially not clear whether it would be possible to return the turbine, which has since been repaired, from Canada. Last weekend, Ottawa then gave the green light for the export to Germany; the Siemens group then declared that it wanted to install the turbine as soon as possible.
The war in Ukraine has caused gas prices to skyrocket around the world and highlighted the dependence of Germany and other EU countries on Russian gas supplies. After the war began, the West imposed massive economic sanctions on Russia, but initially exempted gas imports.