While Canada's foreign affairs minister said on Wednesday that it would stick to the existing sanctions waiver that would allow it to return Nord Stream 1 gas turbines to Russia, Gazprom has stated that there are no Nord Stream 1 gas turbines currently undergoing maintenance in Canada.
Canada's foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly said that the current waiver allowed them to return 5 Nord Stream 1 turbines to be repaired in Canada and then returned to Russia.
But Gazprom said on Thursday that none of its Nord Stream 1 turbines are currently being worked on in Canada. The company failed to elaborate on where those turbines were at the moment.
Gazprom is still planning maintenance at the Portovaya compressor station for three days beginning on August 31, stopping gas flows along Nord Stream 1 to Germany.
The first turbine sent to Siemens in Canada resulted in a back and forth word-and eventually Twitter spotify mix-feud, with each blaming the other for delays in getting the turbine back up and running. Siemens insisted it had returned the turbine and it was waiting in Germany for Gazprom to supply the necessary customs documents needed for shipment. Meanwhile, Gazprom insisted that Siemens had not provided documentation proving that the turbine is not subject to sanctions.
The original out-of-service turbine-which has still not yet been placed back into service--triggered reduced gas flows through Nord Stream 1, exacerbating a difficult supply situation in Europe, which is trying to build gas inventories in the runup to the winter heating season.
Canada said it would still be willing to perform the maintenance on the next five turbines, despite the process for the first one going so horribly wrong, to help keep Germany in gas.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Comments
EU imposed the sanctions against Gazprom. Now EU is searching to to escape those while Gazprom is insisting to follow all the sanction regime à-la-lettre.