• Nord Stream 1 pipeline was set to reopen on Saturday at 0100 GMT following a three-day maintenance shutdown.
• Gazprom discovered an oil leak that rendered a pipeline turbine unsafe to use.
• Moscow has blamed sanctions imposed by the West for impeding operations and maintenance.

Russia has postponed a Saturday deadline to resume gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of Europe’s main supply routes, citing a problem detected during maintenance, compounding Europe’s challenges in obtaining fuel for winter.

Nord Stream 1, which runs beneath the Baltic Sea to serve Germany and others, was set to reopen on Saturday at 0100 GMT following a three-day maintenance shutdown.

However, Gazprom, the state-owned company with a monopoly on Russian gas exports via pipeline, said on Friday that it could no longer set a timetable for restarting deliveries after discovering an oil leak that rendered a pipeline turbine unsafe to use.

Moscow has blamed sanctions imposed by the West following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for impeding Nord Stream 1’s routine operations and maintenance. According to Brussels, this is a ruse, and Russia is retaliating by using gas as an economic weapon.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union Commission, said the group should set a price ceiling on Russian pipeline gas to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from manipulating the market.

Gas prices have skyrocketed, harming European business and people, first due to recovering demand following the pandemic and subsequently due to the Ukraine issue.

“We see that the electricity market does not work anymore because it is massively disrupted due to Putin’s manipulations,” Von der Leyen said, adding that a gas price cap on Russian pipeline supplies could be proposed at the European level.

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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that if Brussels enforced such a restriction, Moscow would cut off supply to Europe.

Reduced Nord Stream deliveries, combined with lower gas flows via Ukraine, another major route, have left European countries struggling to fill storage tanks for winter, prompting many to activate emergency plans that could lead to energy rationing.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, suggested earlier on Friday that there could be more disruptions to Nord Stream 1 deliveries.

“It’s not the fault of Gazprom that the resources are missing. Therefore, the reliability of the entire system is at risk,” he said when asked if more outages could be expected.

On Wednesday, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller stated that sanctions meant Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE), a pipeline equipment supplier, would be unable to perform routine maintenance.

Siemens Energy, which regularly maintains Nord Stream 1 turbines, stated that it was not involved in the current maintenance work being performed by Gazprom. It has also stated that it is willing to assist if needed and that maintenance is exempt from punishment.

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