EU does not expect Nord Stream pipeline to restart on Thursday

9 comments
  1. The European Commission assumes that the Nord Stream pipeline will not transport gas from Russia to the European Union on Thursday. This is what European Commissioner Johannes Hahn (Budgetary Affairs) told [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/articles/european-commission-doesn-t-expect-nord-stream-to-restart-151658221561) on Tuesday. Currently, scheduled maintenance is taking place on the pipeline, which is therefore not in use.

    The EU, and Germany in particular, are anxiously waiting to see whether the taps will reopen after the scheduled maintenance of ten days.

    It is feared that the Russians are using the closure of Nord Stream as retaliation for the international sanctions against Russia. This could lead to a German gas shortage in the coming winter.

    These concerns were heightened on Monday. On that day [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-gazprom-declares-force-majeure-gas-supplies-europe-2022-07-18/) reported that the Russian state gas company Gazprom had warned some energy companies that it “could not guarantee” the gas supply. The letter from Gazprom ended up on the mat of, among others, the German energy companies RWE and Uniper.

    That is why Eurocommissioner Hahn says the EU is not counting on Gazprom to restart Nord Stream when the scheduled maintenance period expires. “We are working on the assumption that the operation will not resume on Thursday,” Hahn said.

  2. Does Gazprom have to pay a fine if they don’t deliver the agreed upon amount of gas?

    Does Uniper still pay, even if no gas is flowing?

  3. I have a hard time believing that Putin would “silently” just don’t start up gas supply. The thing he would do is say “you attacked us, now we attack you and stop gas”.

Leave a Reply