The Gazprom turbine that Siemens Energy took to a Canadian factory to repair and that Gazprom blamed for the reduced Nord Stream 1 flows is not coming back to Russia anytime soon, Canada's Natural Resources Minister has signaled.
Speaking to Reuters, Jonathan Wilkinson said the turbine affair was likely to come up during the G7 meeting to be held this weekend, but any discussions were unlikely to lead to a solution.
"If you talk to the Germans, they are very, very concerned about" their energy security, Wilkinson said. "I'm sure it'll come up at least in the corridors of the G7 ... I wouldn't hold my breath that we're going to find a resolution before the end."
The turbine affair began earlier this month when Gazprom began to reduce gas flows via the Nord Stream 1. The Russian state company attributed the reduction to a missing turbine that had not been returned after maintenance.
Germany's Siemens Energy explained last week that "Due to the sanctions imposed by Canada, it is currently impossible for Siemens Energy to deliver overhauled gas turbines to the customer. We have informed the Canadian and German governments and are working on a viable solution."
As a result of this delayed delivery, flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are now at just 40 percent of capacity, and Germans are bracing up for a complete halt of the flow for scheduled maintenance. While normally Gazprom would divert flows to other pipelines, now there is fear it will not do so as relations between Russia and the European Union break records in reaching historically low point after low point.
"We are trying to be sensitive to the concerns that Germany and others are expressing and trying to find a resolution that will allow us to ensure that we're respecting the intent of the sanctions, but also ensuring we're not penalizing our allies," Canada's Natural Resources Minister also said this week ahead of the G7 meeting.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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