Gas deliveries from Russia to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will be stopped again on Wednesday – according to the Russian gas giant Gazprom for three days. The reason for this is therefore regular maintenance work. According to Gazprom, the gas should flow again on Saturday.
The group had already interrupted deliveries to Germany for ten days in July; Gazprom also gave maintenance work as the reason at the time. Gazprom is currently delivering around 33 million cubic meters of gas to Germany via Nord Stream 1 every day. That is 20 percent of the possible delivery quantity.
The reason given by Russia is the maintenance of a Siemens turbine, which cannot be delivered to Russia because of Western sanctions. The Federal Government considers this line of argument to be technically incomprehensible.
From Thursday, Gazprom will also completely stop supplying gas to the Engie Group in France. The reason for this is outstanding payments for deliveries that have already been made in July, the Russian group said on Tuesday evening in the online service Telegram. Engie initially declined to comment.
Engie previously announced on Tuesday that Gazprom had informed the company that deliveries would be cut with immediate effect. The reason is a “difference of opinion about the application of contracts”.
Gazprom had already sharply reduced its supplies to Engie since the start of the Ukraine war. The French group announced on Tuesday that it had taken measures to compensate for cuts in supplies from Russia. The supply of customers with gas is guaranteed.
According to its own statements, the Russian state-owned company made record profits in the first half of the year despite Western sanctions because of the Ukraine war. The bottom line was a result of 2.5 trillion rubles (equivalent to 41.63 billion euros), as the company announced on Tuesday. In addition, Gazprom now wants to pay an interim dividend.
In May, Gazprom had cashed in on its plans to pay a record dividend based on 2021 results, failing to serve shareholders for the first time since 1998. Originally, shareholders were to receive 52.53 rubles per share for the past year.
