The development comes after the Russian energy giant said on Friday it would not restart the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany as planned for Saturday, following a three-day maintenance break. The company said it would send about 42.7 million cubic meters of natural gas through Ukraine to Europe on Saturday, Reuters reported. Flows from the Sudzha entry point were slightly higher compared to Friday’s 41.3 million cubic meters, but this did not make up for the shortfall in natural gas expected to flow from Nord Stream 1 on Saturday, the agency said. Gazprom on Friday said oil leaks were detected in parts of a pipeline compressor and that the equipment had to be taken out of service until it was repaired. Siemens is working on repairs, Gazprom said on Telegram on Saturday. However, Siemens Energy, which normally services the Nord Stream 1 turbines, said this type of oil spill should not stop the pipeline from operating, according to reports. “Such leaks usually do not affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure as part of maintenance work,” Siemens Energy said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. “In the past, too, the occurrence of this type of leak did not lead to an outage,” a Siemens Energy spokesman was quoted as saying.
