Following ten days of maintenance by Russian energy company Gazprom, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is once again functional, operating at around 40% capacity.
“It is working” a Nord Stream company representative told AFP. The German government had previously feared that Russian repairs to the pipeline would mark the end of Russian gas supplies to Europe. Russia has recently declared force majeure on deliveries of gas down the Nord Stream pipeline, removing all guarantees that Russia would be able to deliver natural gas to its customers.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen recently denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s use of gas as a “weapon.” The European Union is still reliant on imports of Russian gas and energy and Russia is able to utilise the threat of a total energy shut-off in order to bend EU nations to its will.
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Even before the start of the war, Russia throttled the supply of natural gas in order to strong-arm the certification of the now abortive Nord Stream 2 pipeline. With the introduction of sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has cut several nations off from supply in protest over their refusal to pay for gas in Russian rubles.
Reduced supply and the threat of a total shut-off of Russian gas are already being felt by major energy companies: German energy importer Uniper even risks collapse due to massively reduced gas deliveries and high prices. There are fears that the collapse of Uniper could bring down other major energy importers, who remain reliant upon Russia to deliver gas to their customers.
