NS1 has been out of commission since July 11 as part of scheduled maintenance and is supposed to come back online on July 22 – but only if that important part, which is still being held in Canada, gets shipped back to Germany and installed according to Russia's standards.
Canada, upset about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is apparently not cooperating with the process, which leaves much of Western Europe in a quagmire that, quite frankly, seems to be mostly self-induced.
While claiming that Russia is trying to "weaponize" the pipeline, Western powers are refusing to play ball with Russia, which is demanding that payments for gas be made in rubles due to NATO sanctions. Western Europe does not want to comply, so now it is running out of gas, threatening the lives of millions of Europeans this winter.
"A crucial component to ensuring the pipeline's safe operation, Gazprom says, has been held up in Canada at the Siemens Energy facility in Montreal which is the only place in the world capable of servicing and repairing it," reports Zero Hedge.
"But in being in Canada, the gas-turbine engines which had been used for over a decade to pressurize the Nord Stream pipeline, have fallen under Canadian sanctions crosshairs."
Natural gas in Europe is now THREE TIMES the cost compared to U.S. natural gas
The flow of gas through NS1 was already reduced last month by 60 percent. The claim was that technical problems with the pipeline required urgent repairs, which means not as much gas can safely move through the system.
Now, however, the flow of gas has dropped pretty much to zero. And there is a strong possibility that the pipeline will never see gas flow through it ever again, unless something dramatic happens to get the turbine back to Europe and installed properly.
There will still be the problem of Europe's refusal to pay for that gas in rubles, not to mention escalating talks about a nuclear attack on the United States. With the way things are going, the situation is likely to get much worse before it ever stands a chance of getting better.
The Canadian government issued a statement that Global Affairs Canada has granted German industrial giant Siemens Energy an exemption from Canada's Russia sanctions for two years. This is not a guarantee, however, that things will go smoothly in reopening the pipeline.
According to Gazprom, the company currently "does not possess any documents that would enable Siemens to get the gas turbine engine … out of Canada."
"In these circumstances," Gazprom added, "it appears impossible to reach an objective conclusion on further developments regarding the safe operation" of a compressor station at the Russian end of the pipeline.
As expected based on this news, European Union (EU) gas prices have soared to triple the cost of U.S. natural gas, which is also facing issues from a series of explosions and other mysterious damage that has been occurring as of late.
"That's what you get for crafting energy policy based on the emotional outbursts of a Swedish teenage girl," wrote a commenter at Zero Hedge about the downfall of Germany at the hands of "green" ignoramuses like Greta Thunberg.
"Anyone else see that the facts on the ground are not that Russia is weaponizing this turbine replacement, but that Canada is?" wrote another.
The latest news about the Russian fuel situation in Europe can be found at FuelSupply.news.
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