Experts doubt Nord Stream's performance after September 3

Ekaterina Maksimova

“If the scheduled maintenance is successful, then the operation of the gas pipeline at one-fifth of the design capacity will be restored from September 3. But this is still very fragile ice. At any moment, the last operational turbine can give an error or failure, which will lead to a halt in gas transportation through the gas pipeline ", - does not exclude the Deputy General Director of the National Energy Security Fund Alexei Grivach (citation from InfoTEK).

Since August 31, Nord Stream has completely stopped its work due to technical work at the Portovaya CS (Leningrad Region), which will last three days. Gazprom has officially notified that the only working gas pumping unit at the Portovaya CS, according to the regulations, must undergo maintenance. “Upon completion of work and the absence of technical malfunctions of the unit, gas transportation will be restored to the level of 33 million cubic meters per day,” Gazprom said.

Alexander Frolov , Deputy General Director of the National Energy Institute, reminded Novye Izvestia that seven turbines are not working at the Portovaya compressor station. One of them, after being repaired in Canada, never made it to Russia, but hung in Germany and is still in the city of Mulheim-on-the-Ruhr.

Of the remaining six turbines, three are currently in need of major repairs. "They need major repairs on schedule - one since May, the other two since June and July," said Alexander Frolov. Three more turbines were stopped due to identified faults that were not eliminated by Siemens specialists.

Also, at the Portovaya CS, only one of the six main gas compressor units is currently in operation. And it was this single unit that came under maintenance from August 31 to September 2.

At such capacities, the daily productivity of the gas pipeline dropped to the minimum - 33 million cubic meters of gas per day. Nord Stream is operating at only 20% of its capacity.

Representatives of Gazprom have repeatedly voiced their position on the "traveler" turbine. Under a contract with the British Industrial Turbine Company (part of the Siemens group), the turbine was supposed to undergo repair work at a plant in Canada and return to the customer, Gazprom, in May. "However, due to Canadian sanctions and without the consent of Gazprom, the engine was sent to Germany instead of Russia. <...> In the case of transporting the engine to Russia, there is a risk that the Canadian authorities may consider this a violation or circumvention of the conditions of the issued permit <...> This may lead to the revocation of the permit and the impossibility of repairing other engines of the Portovaya CS in Canada, - the official position of PJSC Gazprom.

Before the February events, Russian gas accounted for up to 40% of gas consumption in Europe. Against the backdrop of a reduction in supplies via the Nord Stream, the EU countries are trying to fill their gas storage facilities before the onset of winter. According to the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, Europeans have filled storage facilities by 80%.

Experts unanimously point out that all these accumulations do not make sense without guarantees of stable gas supplies in summer and winter.