Closed gas pipeline Russia will not open as planned

Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom said that gas supply through Nord Stream 1, the main gas supply pipeline in Europe, is not starting on Saturday as planned.

The company had earlier informed that the gas supply will be stopped for three days for the repair work of the pipeline. Accordingly, gas supply was supposed to resume on Saturday itself.

But now Gazprom says a fault has been detected at the Portovia compressor station on the Baltic Sea coast. Oil is leaking from there. Turbine engine damaged. Gas cannot be supplied until the problem is resolved.

Gazprom also released a photo of the compressor station. However, Gazprom has not given a time frame for when gas supplies could resume, the BBC reported.

Gas is delivered to Germany, Russia’s biggest buyer in Europe, through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea.

Russia has previously cut gas supplies to Europe significantly through this pipeline.

European countries have already feared that Moscow is cutting gas supplies in response to Western sanctions over its aggression in Ukraine and that they may stop supplying gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Meanwhile, Gazprom said that it could not start the pipeline on schedule. Western countries complain that Russia is using energy as a weapon of war. However, Moscow has denied such allegations.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline opened in 2011 and carries a maximum of 170 million cubic meters of gas per day to Germany.

Russia shut down the pipeline for 10 days last July. The service was also told about the repair. Russia has recently completed only 20 percent of the pipeline, citing faulty plumbing. .