MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tension over giant turbines that Moscow blames for the reduction of flows via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline has put the focus on the equipment it needs to operate.
The crucial part is SGT-A65 (Trent 60), a Siemens Energy turbine that is 12 metres long, weighs 20 tonnes, and needs to be transported back to Gazprom's Nord Stream Portovaya compressor station following maintenance in July.
The St. Petersburg-based company has said Canadian, EU and UK sanctions make delivery of a Siemens turbine to the Portovaya compressor station impossible.
And on Friday, Russia scrapped a Saturday deadline to resume gas flows via Nord Stream 1 after saying it had discovered a fault during maintenance, deepening Europe's difficulties in securing fuel for winter.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said on Wednesday that sanctions meant Siemens Energy could not carry out regular maintenance.
Siemens Energy, which normally services Nord Stream 1 turbines, said it was not involved in maintenance work now being conducted by Gazprom. It has also said it was ready to help if needed and has said maintenance was excluded from sanctions.
Gazprom, the state-controlled firm with a monopoly on Russian gas exports via pipeline, said it could no longer provide a timeframe for restarting deliveries after finding an oil leak that meant a turbine could not run safely
Gazprom had previously announced a three-day shutdown from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 because the only remaining gas compressor running at Portovaya required maintenance.
It had already stopped gas supplies via the route for 10 days for annual maintenance last month, resuming the flows at lower than normal levels on July 21.
President Vladimir Putin says the West has unleashed an economic war aimed at destroying Russia and its economy, and has promised to sell Russia's vast energy resources to countries in Asia, such as China, if European customers do not want them.
Gazprom has reduced flows through Nord Stream 1, the single biggest pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany, to 20% of capacity because of what it describes as faulty equipment, notably the SGT-A65 turbine whose return has been delayed.
Russia has said that the only one SGT-A65 gas pumping unit - one of six normally available at the station - had been operational before it shut Nord Stream for maintenance on Wednesday.
Germany has said the delayed turbine, which has been stranded after maintenance in Canada, is a pretext, and that Moscow is using gas as a political weapon. "They don't even have the guts to say 'we are in an economic war with you'," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said last month.
Gazprom has also halted another Siemens Energy gas turbine at the station, citing routine maintenance and the "technical condition" of the engine. Currently, only one turbine is in operation.
Eight industrial aeroderivative gas turbines were originally manufactured by Rolls-Royce for the Portovaya station. Rolls-Royce's gas turbine-making operations were bought by Siemens Energy in 2014.
These turbines are needed to power driving centrifugal compressors, which raise pressure by condensing gas volumes to ensure smooth transport of the fuel.
Rystad Energy analyst Lu Ming Pang said the units require maintenance after 34 months of operation.
"Like the maintenance from 12 July to 21 July, market participants are wary of the possibility that the flows may not return on schedule, if at all," he said.
According to Gazprom, six of the gas pumping units at Portovaya have a capacity of 52 megawatts (MW) each, while two units have a capacity of 27 MW each.
In addition, there are four spare turbines on site to ensure the station keeps pumping if some equipment has to leave the site for maintenance, which usually happens every two-to-three years, a person familiar with the matter said.
Two of the six large units may stay idle without reducing the station's capacity, a source familiar with how the station operates said.
Gazprom has not replied to questions about Nord Stream 1 operations.
The Portovaya compressor station is located near the Russian city of Vyborg on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, where the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline enters the Baltic Sea.
The station pumps natural gas across the Baltic Sea via Nord Stream 1's 1,224 km (760 mile) undersea route to where it makes landfall in Germany's Greifswald. Gazprom calls Portovaya the world's largest compressor station.
Nord Stream 1 has a nameplate capacity of 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year. However, the pipeline pumped more than 59 bcm in 2020 and 2021 after measures were taken to raise capacity, representing more than a third of Russia's total gas supply to the European Union.
Portovaya reached a daily record of almost 177 million cubic metres per day in 2020.
Russia produces turbines with a maximum capacity of 25 MW.
Engineering company Power Machines is developing two types of turbine with capacities of 65 MW and 170 MW each, it said.
The 65 MW turbine is expected to start working in testing mode only in 2024, and the other later in 2022 or in 2023.
Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in a speech last month in parliament that Russia was speeding up trials of the large turbines "in the interests of the Russian power sector".
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Beating the market temporarily may be a fluke. Try to beat it in the long run across a diversified portfolio of stocks. The post 2 TSX Stocks That Are Actually Beating the Market appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked power stations and other infrastructure Sunday, causing widespread outages across Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces pressed a swift counteroffensive that has driven Moscow's troops from swaths of territory it had occupied in the northeast. The bombardment ignited a massive fire at a power station on Kharkiv's western outskirts and killed at least one person. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the “deliberate and cynical missile strikes” against civilian targets a
RRSP investors can buy TSX industry leaders at cheap prices right now for a portfolio focused on total returns. The post RRSP Investors: 2 Cheap TSX Dividend Stocks to Own for Decades appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
MILTON KEYNES, England (Reuters) -Autonomous vehicle (AV) startups have raised tens of billions of dollars based on promises to develop truly self-driving cars, but industry executives and experts say remote human supervisors may be needed permanently to help robot drivers in trouble. The central premise of autonomous vehicles - that computers and artificial intelligence will dramatically reduce accidents caused by human error - has driven much of the research and investment. But there is a catch: Making robot cars that can drive more safely than people is immensely tough because self-driving software systems simply lack humans' ability to predict and assess risk quickly, especially when encountering unexpected incidents or "edge cases."
October could be a big month for energy stocks like Suncor Energy Inc (TSX:SU)(NYSE:SU). The post Oil Stocks: Next Leg Up in October? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Fortis (TSX:FTS)(NYSE:FTS) is just one great blue-chip dividend stock to buy and hold alongside GICs at this juncture. The post TFSA Investors: Where to Invest $5,000 Right Now — GICs or TSX Stocks? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The United States on Saturday announced $40 million in aid to buy fertilizer and other key agricultural inputs in time for the next cultivation season in crisis-hit Sri Lanka. USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who is visiting Sri Lanka, made the announcement after she met farmer representatives in Ja-Ela outside the capital, Colombo. She said the money will be in addition to the $6 million announced earlier to assist low-income farmers. Sri Lanka is facing its worst e
By investing $45,000 each in these two Canadian dividend stocks right now, you can start earning a combined monthly passive income of $551 (or around $6,613 per year). The post Earn $551 in Monthly Passive Income With These 2 Canadian Dividend Stocks appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Young investors can take advantage of this popular investing strategy to build meaningful savings for an early retirement. The post Retire at 50: How to Turn a $25,000 TFSA or RRSP Into $475,000 appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Southern California welcomed cooler temperatures and spotty rain Saturday as a tropical storm veered off the Pacific Coast and faded, helping put an end to a blistering heat wave that nearly overwhelmed the state’s electrical grid. Thunderstorms were forecast for the Los Angeles region Saturday that could linger in mountainous areas on Sunday. But after Hurricane Kay made landfall in Mexico this week it quickly was downgraded to a tropical storm and weakened furth
These three tech stocks deserve to be on your radar if you’re willing to assume the risk of investing in growth stocks amid market volatility. The post 3 TSX Tech Stocks That Could Soar appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The heads of the nation's two largest rail unions said Sunday that the freight railroads' move to begin delaying some shipments ahead of this week's looming strike deadline is only an attempt to get shippers to increase the pressure on Congress to intervene and block a work stoppage by imposing a contract on workers. The heads of the unions that represent engineers and conductors — the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union and the Br
Investing in Canadian REITs, such as Killam Apartment, offers portfolio diversification and the opportunity to create a passive-income stream. The post These 2 Canadian REITs Have Dividend Yields of Over 3% appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch shareholders association VEB is threatening to take Philips to court over its handling of a global recall of respiratory machines, claiming it caused billions in losses by giving incorrect information to shareholders, Dutch paper FD reported on Monday, citing a letter the VEB sent to the company. Philips confirmed that it had received a letter from the VEB on Sunday night, but did not provide any details of its content. "We are convinced that Philips acted in the right and responsible way," Philips spokesman Steve Klink said, adding that the company was confident it could resolve the issues in a conversation with the VEB.
Walt Disney Co on Sunday sketched the contours of a plan for how the entertainment, theme parks and consumer products conglomerate will use technology to enhance storytelling for the next 100 years. Speaking backstage at the company's biennial D23 Expo fan convention with Reuters, Chief Executive Bob Chapek took great pains to avoid what he called the "M-word," or metaverse, despite pushing the company in that direction last year. Chapek described Disney's vision for the metaverse as "next-generation storytelling."
Using ETFs can be a great way to buy Ethereum in a TFSA or RRSP. The post 2 Ethereum ETFs to Buy the Merge With appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
The 12 clear rounds by riders in today's Canadian Pacific (CP) International raised $120,000 for the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. Daniel Deusser jumped three clear rounds to win the $3 million CP International Grand Prix.
These two energy stocks could help TFSA investors earn handsome tax-free passive income for life. The post TFSA Passive Income: 2 Energy Stock to Earn $4,390 Yearly in Tax-Free Passive Income for Life appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Unifor members at GDI Services have won significant wage and benefit gains in a new collective agreement, bringing a 17-day labour dispute at Durham College campuses to an end.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — An emotional Harrison Ford appeared along with a new trailer for the fifth Indiana Jones film, cast members from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" showed footage from their forthcoming sequel, and trailers and details were unveiled from the widening TV presence of the “Star Wars” galaxy on Saturday at the D23 Expo. An arena-sized audience gave a standing ovation to Ford, co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge and director James Mangold after the trailer was shown at a presentation fr