Russia claimed Friday that it has delayed exporting natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline because of an oil leak.
Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom confirmed in a statement Friday that oil was detected in one of its gas-turbine engines during scheduled maintenance, making it dangerous to transport the gas.
“Rostekhnadzor of Russia issued a warning that the detected faults and failures make it impossible to ensure the safe and trouble-free operation of the gas turbine engine. Therefore, it is required to take appropriate measures and suspend the operation of the Trent 60 gas compressor unit in view of the identified gross violations,” the corporation wrote. It added that the Nord Stream gas pipeline has to remain fully shut down until the operational defects in the equipment are eliminated.
On Friday, the G7 countries — the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom — agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil to handicap Moscow’s profit-gaining capabilities for financing its war in Ukraine.
The nations said they would ban “services which enable maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products globally,” such as shipping, if they are sold at a price higher than the price cap. After that coordinated effort, Russia threatened to retaliate by not selling oil to countries that implement the cap.
“We will simply not supply oil and petroleum products to such companies or states that impose restrictions, as we will not work non-competitively,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters Thursday, according to state news agency TASS.
In April, Germany announced that it plans to end oil imports from Russia by the end of the year and will then begin phasing out Russian gas imports as part of its goal to achieve energy independence from Moscow amid the conflict in Ukraine.
“I therefore say here clearly and unequivocally yes, Germany is also completely phasing out Russian energy imports,” German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said.