Russia Weaponize Natural Gas As They Announce An Indefinite Shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 Pipeline.

The main pipeline, North Stream 1, will be closed longer than expected, according to reports in foreign media on September 2. The Russian energy giant Gazprom had initially planned for transmission to resume to Germany on September 3. However, a date for its reopening has not yet set. The announcement comes after Gazprom claimed to have found “failures” in a crucial turbine along the pipeline transporting gas from western Russia to Germany. They have declared that replacing the turbine is necessary for the pipeline to function smoothly.

The notification further stated that the closure will last three days and start up again after Saturday Midnight. The Russian side then entirely terminated the flow of natural gas via Nord Stream 1. Observers noted that the prolonged closing of the North Stream 1 pipeline happened just hours after finance ministers from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada attempted to halt the flow of funding to the Putin government and agreed to control Russian oil prices. The idea means that importers of G7 and EU enterprises seeking transportation services and insurance will have to adhere to pricing limitations in order to carry Russian oil beginning in December. As a result, the timing of Russia’s extended closure enhances the possibility that it is Putin’s retaliation to the looming restriction on Russian oil prices.

The supply cuts have sparked serious concerns that Europe, particularly Germany, may be obliged to drastically reduce home and commercial electricity use this year. European countries are scrambling to fill natural gas storage facilities in order to prevent Russia from completely cutting natural gas supply this winter. Germany’s gas storage facilities are presently at or near capacity. According to a senior commodity assistant at an energy consultant, the North Stream 1 shipped around 30 million cubic meters per day before the shutdown, or just 3.7 billion cubic meters more for the rest of the year, or more than 18 billion cubic meters if fully functioning. However, this only accounts for 4% of German annual consumption and less than 1% of European demand.