Russian state energy giant Gazprom is unable to give a forecast on the continued operation of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, according to a statement released by the company and posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
The reason is that there are doubts about the return of a Siemens turbine from Canada, Gazprom explained in the statement.
"Gazprom does not possess any documents that would enable Siemens (the company responsible for the installation) to get the gas turbine engine for Portovaya CS out of Canada, where that engine is currently undergoing repairs," the statement said.
"In these circumstances," Gazprom could not guarantee the future operation of the pipeline, it added.
The German government had previously stated that with the delivery of the turbine serviced in Canada, there was no longer any reason for Russia to throttle gas supplies through Nord Stream 1.
Canada now wants to hand over the turbine to Germany.
Throttled supply: Long-planned regular maintenance work began on the pipeline Monday and should take about 10 days. However, there are doubts as to whether gas will actually flow again after that.
Since mid-June, Gazprom had significantly reduced its gas supplies to Germany through the Baltic Sea pipeline, initially to 60% and later to 40% of the usual gas volume.
The group justified the step by citing the missing turbine. However, the German government described the throttling of gas exports as politically motivated. Russia said it would restart energy supplies if the repaired turbine returned.
To avoid a gas shortage in winter, Germany is currently trying to fill its gas storage facilities as quickly as possible. The facilities are only 64.6% full, the Federal Network Agency reported earlier this month.
