Posted on 06/14/2022 10:01:43 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Russian gas giant Gazprom has announced a 40% reduction in natural gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline, blaming German engineering giant Siemens for failing to return key turbines “on time”.
The Nord Stream pipeline running across the Baltic Sea to Germany is the largest remaining route for carrying Russian gas to Europe, as volumes being sent via the Ukraine transit pipeline network have been reduced greatly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The reduction in Nord Stream flows comes less than a month before operations are scheduled to halt completely on 11 July for the pipeline’s two-week summer maintenance programme.
Gazprom said that only three of its eight turbines remain in operation at Nord Stream’s Portovaya compressor station on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, reducing the facility’s capacity to about 100 million cubic metres per day, against the nameplate capacity of 167 MMcmd.
Siemens’ high-power SGT-A65 and SGT-A35 turbines were installed at the facility to maintain the necessary pressure in the system because there are no additional booster compressor stations along the pipeline’s 1200-kilometre subsea section.
The turbines are understood to be based on Rolls-Royce engines and are usually sent for maintenance to the UK.
However, Siemens has withdrawn its services and maintenance support for Russia to comply with European sanctions against the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gazprom said that, as well as Siemens not returning the turbines sent for maintenance, Russian technical compliance watchdog Rostekhnadzor ordered the facility to idle several turbines in Portovaya because of “technical faults and the expiry of overhaul deadlines”.
Earlier this year, Germany passed legislation requiring operators to achieve an 80% capacity at their gas storage facilities by 1 October.
(Excerpt) Read more at upstreamonline.com ...
The title implies the cut was an arbitrary or political decision of Russia, but the gas capacity reduction is a direct result of sanctions stopping Germany's Siemens company from returning these gas transmission turbines.
This article claims Russia could "easily" make up for this by increasing gas transmission across Ukraine, but doesn't mention that Ukraine government stopped 1/3 of gas transmission when it shut down the Sokhranivka route...
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ukraine-gas-system-operator-declares-force-majeure-sokhranivka-entry-point-2022-05-10/
I wonder if Nord Stream 2 has separate compression turbines from the ones the original Nord Stream pipeline was using. Anyone know?
“This article claims Russia could “easily” make up for this by increasing gas transmission across Ukraine, “
I manage to disable the Dominos pizza car to hurt their store. I call and order a pizza and point out to them they can easily walk or ride a bike to deliver my pizza.
And Germans wonder where they got name “Blockhead”.
I thought it was “Dumkopf”
Green and political lunacy is contracting the German economy. Sorry but have no sympathy for these barbarians who started the two wars in the 20th century that resulted in the destruction of Western culture. Hopefully America will come to its senses, disassociate itself from these Eurolowlifes and people like them here in the US and revitalize.
That too. Also kraut, goon, Fritz, Jerry, Hun, Heinie, Boche, Rhine Monkey, etc.
Gazprom could already have been cut off except for Germany and the US.
Biden, again, and Germany did not tell the truth on this:
February 7 according the Rueters - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be halted if Russia invades Ukraine and stressed unity with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the West rallies to avert a war in Europe.
On Feb 10, a German politician set up a state-backed foundation with Russian energy company Gazprom last year to help Moscow avoid U.S. sanctions on a pipeline due to carry Russian gas to Europe.
Both Germany and the US were aware of this deal concerning Nordstrom 2 and Gazprom as it cripples the Biden plan to stop Russia from having the capacity of either fighting or cutting off oil to Europe as early as December last year.
wy69
USA and its climate policy be damned.
Nord Stream 2 was never activated.
Now its permits have been pulled, and the holding company that managed it has laid everyone off and gone into bankruptcy.
I don’t know if there are scrap turbines that could be cannibalized on Russian territory, but this is a big problem across the whole of the Russian oil and gas sector. Even if they have inactive turbines at the defunct facilities, they probably would normally use Siemens experts to install and activate them.
There is a wholesale embargo on critical parts, equipment, software and expertise; from stem to stern throughout that industry in Russia. There is a cascading effect through their oil and gas supply chains, as critical components go offline. The foreign experts who have been supporting their systems for decades have walked off the job, en masse.
No doubt they are scrambling to McGyver a bunch of band aid solutions, but it is not going to be pretty.
“… February 7 according the Rueters - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be halted if Russia invades Ukraine and stressed unity with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the West rallies to avert a war in Europe.…”
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Biden claims that he would “halt” the NS2 pipeline, a pipeline that never had gone into actual delivery mode. It is also the pipeline that TRUMP CAUSED CESSATION OF CONSTRUCTION and Biden came in and rescinded that action allowing construction to restart and continue. NS2 construction was completed (September 2021?) after Biden’s “go-ahead” and testing commenced.
I don’t know much about NG pipelines but I have seen other FReepers demonstrate considerable expertise and detailed working knowledge of the industry. I’m assuming that before their pre-activation testing starts the new pipeline would have had to have all its existing air purged somehow and replaced with pure natural gas. When the new pipeline was “mothballed” and testing discontinued in February 2022 I’m guessing that it was safely sealed with pure natural from its beginning point to its terminal point. Maybe some FReepers with industry experience can weigh in to confirm or clarify this.
I know people in the industry and everything you hear in propaganda is just plain wrong. There are domestic Russian turbines used elsewhere, Siemens is a thing for German projects for political reasons.
The Russians normally serve foreign stuff themselves, including using CNC tools to make parts for them.
The story is probably a joint trick of Gazprom and Siemens to show how stupid the sanctions are.
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