Siemens Energy has not received a maintenance contract for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, the company said after Russia’s Gazprom said it could not provide technical support for the pipeline.

“However, we have repeatedly emphasized that there are enough additional turbines at the Portovaya compressor station to operate the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” said a Siemens Energy spokesman.

Earlier, Siemens Energy said that since yesterday at 23:00 Greek time, it has not been involved in any repair work on the pipeline. natural gas Nord Stream 1, while not a single request for technical support from the Russian “Gazprom” was received. Siemens Energy said it remains ready to carry out maintenance work.

“Gazprom” stopped gas supply for an indefinite period

Recall that Moscow initially reported that from today it will begin to pass natural gas through it. Nord Stream 1, but Gazprom later announced that it was suspending flows indefinitely due to the leak. Moscow attributes the technical problems to sanctions imposed by the West after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as a result of which scheduled maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline is not carried out.

“There are no spare parts, one turbine is working, so think for yourself,” Kremlin spokesman D. Peskov said when asked if new pipeline disruptions were expected. “Gazprom is not to blame for the lack of resources. Therefore, the reliability of the entire system is at risk,” he said.

Brussels, for its part, claims that this is a pretext and that Russia is using natural gas as an economic weapon of retaliation.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said on Wednesday that the sanctions meant that Siemens Energy, a supplier of pipeline equipment, could not carry out routine maintenance.

Siemens Energy, which routinely maintains the Nord Stream 1 turbines, said it is not involved in the maintenance work that Gazprom is currently doing. She also said that she was ready to help if necessary and that maintenance was excluded from the sanctions.

EU governments are preparing for the possibility that Russia will cut off supplies altogether after Gazprom cuts off flows, first in June and then again in July.

The reduction in gas flows through Nord Stream 1 for a long time, as well as through Ukrainian gas pipelines, hinders the efforts of European states to increase reserves on the eve of winter.

Germany’s storage tanks are 85% full, but Berlin says hitting the 95% target by Nov. 1 will be difficult if companies and households don’t cut consumption.

At the same time, Germany has also ordered a new floating tank for liquefied gas, the fifth since the beginning of the crisis, to further reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

^{According to REUTERS}