Natural gas started flowing through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe on Thursday after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance — but the gas flow remained well short of full capacity and the outlook was uncertain, which leaves Europe still facing the prospect of a hard winter. The Nord Stream 1 pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany had been closed since July 11 for annual maintenance work. Amid growing tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, German officials had feared that the pipeline — the country’s main source of Russian gas, which recently has accounted for around a third of Germany’s gas supplies — might not reopen at all. Network data showed gas beginning to arrive through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as scheduled after 6 a.m., and the operator said that it had “successfully completed all planned maintenance works.” But deliveries were still far below the pipeline's full capacity, as they were for weeks before the maintenance break. Also read: Nord Stream 1 resumes gas deliveries to Germany after maintenance The head of Germany's network regulator, Klaus Mueller, said Russia’s Gazprom had notified deliveries Thursday of about 30% of the pipeline's capacity. He later tweeted that actual deliveries were above that amount and could reach the pre-maintenance level of some 40%. That wouldn't be enough to resolve Europe's energy crisis. “The political uncertainty and the 60% reduction from mid-June unfortunately remain,” Mueller wrote. When Gazprom reduced the flow last month, it cited alleged technical problems involving equipment that partner Siemens Energy sent to Canada for overhaul and couldn’t be returned because of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Canadian government earlier this month gave permission for the turbine that powers a compressor station at the Russian end of the pipeline to be delivered to Germany. The German government has rejected Gazprom’s technical explanation for the gas reduction, charging repeatedly that it was only a pretext for a political decision to sow uncertainty and further push up energy prices. It has said the turbine was a replacement that was only supposed to be installed in September, but that it’s doing everything to deprive Russia of the pretext to reduce supplies. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Gazprom still hadn’t received the relevant documents for the turbine’s return, and on Wednesday questioned the quality of the repair work. Putin said that Gazprom was to shut another turbine for repairs in late July, and if the one that was sent to Canada wasn’t returned by then the flow of gas would decline even further. The head of the European Union’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday that the turbine was “in transit” and there was “no pretext not to deliver” gas. Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said that Russia was playing a “strategic game." Also read: Canada imposes new sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector, chemical industry “Keeping low flows going is better than cutoff. It decreases Europe’s resolve to reduce gas demand,” he said. He warned that Europe must go into crisis mode anyway "because an interruption is likely to happen in the winter. And each cubic meter of gas saved now, makes Europe more resilient in the next months.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said “today underlines — even if there's an announcement that gas is flowing again — that this war isn't only being conducted with weapons against Ukraine, but that hybrid warfare means also using energy dependency as a means of war.” The European Commission proposed this week that member countries cut their gas use by 15% over the coming months as the bloc braces for a possible full Russian cutoff of gas supplies. Germany and the rest of Europe are scrambling to fill gas storage in time for winter and reduce their dependence on Russian energy imports. Germany has Europe’s biggest economy; gas is important to power its industries, provide heating and, to some extent, generate electricity. Last month, the government activated the second phase of Germany’s three-stage emergency plan for natural gas supplies, warning that Europe’s biggest economy faced a “crisis” and winter storage targets were at risk. As of Wednesday, Germany's gas storage was 65.1% full. To make up for shortfalls, the German government has given the green light for utility companies to fire up 10 dormant coal-fired power plants and six that are oil-fueled. Another 11 coal-fired power plants scheduled to be shut down in November will be allowed to keep operating.

Russian energy giant Gazprom confirmed a complete suspension of gas supply to the Finland's state-owned gas company Gasum starting Saturday due to its non-payment in rubles. As of the end of Friday, Gazprom Export has not received any payment in rubles from Gasum for gas supplied in April in accordance with a Russian presidential decree in March, the company said in a statement. Also Read: NATO talks with Finland, Sweden falter but will continue Russian gas supplied from April 1 must be paid in rubles, of which the counterparties were informed in a timely manner, Gazprom said. Gazprom Export delivered 1.49 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Finland in 2021, which accounted for two-thirds of the total gas consumption in the Nordic country, it added.    

The European Union (EU) is ready to face the suspension of Russian gas deliveries to its member states, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday. The Russian gas supplier Gazprom announced earlier Wednesday that it was fully stopping its gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, due to the two EU member states' "failure to pay in rubles." Also Read: Russia cuts off 2 EU nations from its gas in war escalation In a statement reacting to Gazprom's announcement, von der Leyen called the move "another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail" in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded on March 23 that Russia's current gas contracts with "unfriendly countries" should be paid in rubles. "We have been working to ensure alternative deliveries and the best possible storage levels across the EU," and the gas coordination group is meeting in order to map out a coordinated EU response, said von der Leyen. The EU, highly dependent on Russian gas and oil, has been working on finding alternative energy supplies through its REPowerEU plan launched on March 8. The bloc agreed with the United States on March 25 that it would purchase an additional at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) for 2022, and 50 billion cubic meters of LNG per annum until at least 2030. Also Read: Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies The bloc is also accelerating its green transition to wean itself from fossil fuels and to increase energy efficiency.     

Russian oil major Gazprom obtained a contract for drilling 3 wells at Bhola gas field at a contract value of Tk 648.39 crore (equivalent to about $77.184 million). Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase in a meeting on Thursday approved a proposal of the stature-owned Petrobangla in this regard to award the contract to the Russian firm to do the job on a turnkey basis. Another 4 procurement proposals from different ministries also received the nod of the committee in the meeting presided over by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.   Also read: Haripur Gas field: Drilling begins in 9th well The Energy and Mineral  Resources Division placed the Petrobangla's unsolicited proposal, based on Speedy Supply of Power and Energy Supply (Special Act) 2010, to the Cabinet Body for approval. It means, the Russian firm was selected for the project through negotiation and without any competitive bidding process. Gazprom will take over the drilling works from the Petrobangla’s subsidiary Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (Bapex) which discovered the Bhola gas field.   Mustafa Kamal said the Gazprom was picked up for the project since it is a reputed international firm having vast experience in this field. Earlier, Gazprom had drilled a number of wells at different gas fields to enhance gas production. But many energy experts were critical over the contract value of the works of the Russian firm. The Cabinet committee approved a proposal of the Roads and Highways Department to appoint Joint Venture of (1) SMEC International Pty Ltd, Australia (2) Swedish National Road Consulting AB, Sweden, (3) ACE Consultants Ltd., Bangladesh and (4) BCL Associates Ltd., Bangladesh at a cost of Tk 46.92 crore for its project - Installation of Excel Load Control Centre at the important points of highways. A proposal of Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) received the nod of the committee to award a Tk 658.40 crore contract on G-to-G basis to Thales of France to set up radar system including CNS-ATM (Communications, Navigation and Surveillance-Air Traffic Management) at Shahjalal International Airport. The Cabinet body also approved a proposal of the Water Resources Ministry to award Tk 367.28 crore contract to Khulna Shipyard Limited for 6.3 km river bank protection and 14.750 km dredging works of Arial Kha River in Madaripur district.

State-owned Petrobangla and Bapex on Tuesday signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Russian state-owned oil major Gazprom to work together for the development of Bangladesh’s energy sector.