Russian state gas exporter Gazprom announced that it is reducing gas deliveries through the Nord Stream pipeline after German company Siemens failed to return gas pumping units to the compressor station on time.
“The Nord Stream gas pipeline can currently be supplied with up to 100 million cubic meters of gas per day,” the company said in a statement.
Given Gazprom’s planned daily delivery volume of 167 million cubic meters, the flow was cut by 40 percent.
According to Gazprom, five of the eight gas pumping units received by Siemens for repair at Gazprom’s Portovaya compressor station in Vyborg, near St. Petersburg, were not returned on time.
Moreover, when the pumping units were connected to the pipeline, problems arose because their engines were faulty, prompting the industry regulator Rostekhnadzor to impose a temporary ban on their use.
“Currently, only three gas compressor units are available at Portovaya CS,” Gazprom said.
The Nord Stream pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea and transports Russian gas to Europe, connects the Portovaya compressor station in Russia to its equivalent in Greifswald in northeastern Germany.
It supplies the EU market with around 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
