Nord Stream suspended indefinitely

Gas pipeline Nord Stream has been suspended for an indefinite amount of time, reports Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing gas giant Gazprom’s statement.

Russia's Gazprom notes that it had received a warning about the malfunction of a Nord Stream turbine engine from the Russian Service for Technological Supervision (Rostechnadzor). The gas pipeline will be suspended until the malfunction has been fixed.

“During maintenance works at the compressor station Portovaya, conducted together with representatives of energy company Siemens, Gazprom discovered an oil leakage with a sealing compound in it that had reached terminal connections in the cable lines serving the low-pressure and intermediate-pressure rotor speed sensors,” the statement reads.

Gazprom has sent a letter outlining the faults detected in the Nord Stream turbine engine and the necessity of fixing the issues to Siemens, RIA Novosti adds.

On 31 August, Gazprom stopped the only remaining Nord Stream gas turbine engine. The work stoppage was required to “conduct maintenance and scheduled preventative works”.

After the completion of maintenance, the plan was to restore the gas transmission levels to 33 mln cubic metres per day.

Correction, 9:11 PM: Quote from Gazprom's statement has been added