The Russian energy company Gazprom announced in August that the major gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 to Germany will be halted indefinitely with no timeframe for a reopening. 

Nord Stream 1 is the biggest pipeline for gas from Russia to Europe with the capacity to deliver 55bn cubic meters (bcm) a year, as stated by The Guardian. 

Gazprom, the state-owned gas and oil firm, identified malfunctions on a key turbine along the pipeline and all operations would not restart until all issues were resolved. According to Telegram, Gazprom stated that the leak was found at the main gas turbine at the Portovaya compressor station near St. Petersburg. 

The shutdown of gas flows comes just after the G7 countries agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to reduce money flow to the Kremlin. On August 19th, the state-owned company shut down the flow of gas from August 31st until September 2nd. However, it is now unclear whether Nord Stream 1 will be back online any time soon. 

Moscow has blamed Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine for deterring routine maintenance work on the key pipeline. According to The Guardian, German officials have cast doubt on Gazprom’s explanation that work was necessary on the only remaining functioning turbine at the Portovaya station, especially with the timing on the move just after the G7 imposed cap on Russian oil. 

Since the outbreak of the war, Russia has been accused of weaponizing gas by reducing supplies and threatening full blackouts. 

The new indefinite shutoff adds to already high concerns in Europe and in Germany in particular. Countries will be forced to significantly curtail power usage for this winter. European countries have rushed to fill their gas storage facilities in case Russia completely shuts off any flows, with Germany’s storage now more than 84% full. Klaus Müeller, the head of Germany’s regulatory agency, tweeted that Russia’s decision to shut down Nord Stream 1 will increase the importance of new liquefied natural gas terminals that the nation plans to start running this winter. 

As reported by The Guardian, Jacob Mandel, a senior associate at Aurora Energy research, stated that the halt of flows via Nord Stream 1 will not significantly alter the outlook for European imports of Russian gas. 

“Europe’s storages are well on track to hitting or even surpassing their targets for this summer, and there’s plenty of scope to replace that gas with liquified natural gas imports for now, but when weather turns cold and demand starts to pick up in the winter in Europe and Asia, there’s only so much LNG out there that Europe can import to replace Russian gas.”

It is vital for Europe to decrease its demand for Russian gas and to switch to alternatives as winter approaches. Europe cannot rely solely on Russian gas as Gazprom is unreliable in programming the flow of gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.