Russia to shut Nord Stream gas pipeline for 3 days

　　Gazprom file photo

The only working gas compressor for the Nord Stream 1 will be shut down for three days.

MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Friday that it will suspend natural gas delivery to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 due to maintenance.

The only working gas compressor for the Nord Stream 1 will be shut down for three days and routine maintenance will be carried out jointly with specialists from Germany's Siemens, the manufacturer of the compressor, Gazprom said in a statement.

When the maintenance is completed and no technical malfunction exists, gas supply via the Nord Stream 1 will be restored to the current level of 33 million cubic meters per day, it added.

In mid-June, Gazprom slashed daily gas delivery via the key pipeline to no more than 67 million cubic meters, citing Siemens' failure to overhaul gas turbine engines in time due to Western sanctions against Russia.

On July 27, Gazprom further cut the daily supply to 33 million cubic meters, just about 20 percent of the pipeline's maximum capacity.

Completed in 2011, the Nord Stream 1 connects Vyborg City in northwestern Russia and Germany via the Baltic seabed. To relax its overload, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was finished in 2021 but has been halted since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February.