Canada Reportedly Dodges Own Anti-Russia Sanctions to Ship Nord Stream 1 Turbine to Germany

Gazprom’s gas deliveries to Europe, already restricted by the Brussels’ attempt to “phase out” Russian energy, took another hit in June due to technical problems at the Portovaya compressor station, where at least two gas compressor units were left inoperable due to delays in contractually-obligated maintenance work by Siemens.

Berlin has received a commitment from Ottawa on the return of a turbine required for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, a source said to be familiar with the issue has told Reuters.

The source could not say whether the turbine, which was being serviced in Canada by Siemens Energy division, has already made it to German soil. Ottawa had previously restricted the turbine’s export, citing Canada’s sweeping sanctions against Moscow.

If and when it arrives, the turbine is expected to be handed off to Gazprom for installation at Russia’s Baltic Sea-adjacent Portovaya compressor station, with the transfer to Germany first allowing Ottawa to say that it has formally avoided violating its own sanctions, the source told the news agency.

Earlier, German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit indicated that Berlin had received “positive signals” from Canada on the turbine issue in the course of talks, but could not confirm whether the delivery of the equipment had begun. Hebestreit called the negotiations constructive, and said Berlin had “strenuously” defended its position on the matter.

On Thursday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck publicly asked Canada to send the turbine to Germany, “if it is a legal issue” for Ottawa.

Gazprom was forced to dramatically cut gas supplies flowing through the Nord Stream 1 network in June after at least two compressor stations were shut down, with total deliveries cut from 167 million cubic meters of gas per day (mcm) to 67 million mcm amid delays by Siemens in returning gas-pumping units from scheduled repairs. The company is currently using about 40 percent of the pipeline’s capacity, and has announced plans to stop Nord Stream 1 for annual maintenance between July 11 and 21 for annual scheduled maintenance.

The maintenance problems wouldn’t have posed any problems for Germany if the Nord Stream 2 expansion, which was completed last year, was put into operation. However, that project was indefinitely suspended by Berlin in February over Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as sovereign nations amid the escalation of the eight year old Ukrainian crisis. In recent months, the Polish government and Soros-funded European NGOs called for the new pipeline to be dismantled entirely. Nord Stream 2 has the capacity to deliver up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany via twin pipelines built along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and would have effectively doubled the Nord Stream network’s capacity if it weren’t axed.

Western officials and media accused Russia of deliberately throttling the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 to trigger an emergency as Germany and other European countries scramble to shore up their depleted underground reserves in preparation for winter. Moscow has dismissed this speculation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling on Europe to stop “dragging politics into everything” and characterizing the situation with the pipeline as a technological problem caused by sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that it would not discuss the turbine issue with Canada, calling Ottawa’s sanctions a blatant violation of international law.

Canada has slapped over 1,100 new sanctions on Russia since February, bringing the total number of restrictions to over 1,560 since 2014. The restrictions include a ban on imports of Russian energy and gold, a ban on exports of technology to Russia, restrictions on sovereign debt and the SWIFT payment system, and the revocation of most-favored nation status. The Trudeau government has promised to continue to do its part to sanction Moscow into submission, with the powerful Ukrainian Canadian diaspora recently lobbying Ottawa not to return the turbine.