Putin says Russia will restart Nord Stream 1 upon receipt of gas turbine

Offshore staff

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Gazprom could restart gas flows to Europe via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline tomorrow, if it gets the turbine needed.

Putin blamed Germany and Western sanctions for the indefinite halt in operations for the pipeline, according to Reuters and other media reports of his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum.

At the same time, he said pressure from the US was behind the holdup in launching another pipeline, Nord Stream 2.

“Nord Steam 1 is practically closed now,” Putin was reported to have said. “There is an oil leak there — it’s a possibly explosive situation, a fire hazard. The [existing] turbine cannot work,” Putin said, per Reuters. “Give us a turbine and we will turn on Nord Stream 1 tomorrow. But they don't give us anything.”

State-owned energy giant Gazprom has said that the full cutoff of gas flows via Nord Stream 1 is due to a turbine servicing company failing to respond to its requests.

Russia has squeezed the flow of natural gas to Europe in recent months as relations have deteriorated sharply over the country's invasion of Ukraine in late February. In July, Gazprom cut the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline into Germany to just 20% of capacity.

The company closed the pipeline for maintenance on Wednesday last week, but late on Friday said it would not resume exports, citing an oil leak related to turbine technical issues.

The Russian leader also claimed that Poland and Ukraine had made a decision to switch off other gas routes into Europe, per Reuters.

09.08.2022