Russia’s Gazprom tells Europe a cutoff of gas beyond firm’s control

theguardian.com:

Russia’s Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the west over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dated 14 July, the letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was declaring force majeure on supplies, starting from 14 June.

Known as an “act of God” clause, a force majeure clause is standard in business contracts and spells out extreme circumstances that excuse a party from their legal obligations.

Gazprom had no immediate comment on the move.

Uniper, Germany’s biggest importer of Russian gas, was among the customers who said it had received a letter, and that it had formally rejected the claim as unjustified. It did not share the letter, but a trading source, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the force majeure concerned supplies through the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) pipeline, a major supply route to Germany and beyond.

Flows through the pipeline are at zero as the link undergoes annual maintenance that began on 11 July and is meant to conclude on Thursday.

Europe fears Moscow could keep the pipeline mothballed in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, heightening an energy crisis that risks tipping the region in recession.

Gazprom had already cut the pipeline’s capacity to 40% on 14 June, citing the delay of a turbine under maintenance work in Canada by the equipment supplier Siemens Energy.

Canada sent the turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany by plane on Sunday after the repair work had been completed, Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the situation.

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