MOSCOW (Reuters) -The bickering over a turbine Moscow says is to blame for a reduction of gas flows via Nord Stream 1 has put into focus the equipment the pipeline needs to operate.

At the heart of the tussle lies SGT-A65, a Siemens Energy turbine that is 12 metres long and weighs 20 tonnes, and needs to be transported back to Gazprom's Nord Stream Portovaya compressor station after undergoing maintenance.

The turbine is stuck in transit in Germany, with Russia pointing to outstanding issues around its transport and sanctions, while Germany is blaming Moscow for deliberately holding up the process.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said a second turbine at the compressor station has some defects.

Siemens Energy said its turbine maintenance was a routine procedure, and that there had been no complications during the last 10 years of maintenance.

"At this point in time, we thus see no link between the turbine and the gas cuts that have been implemented or announced," it said.

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 to buy them.

Kremlin-controlled Gazprom is cutting capacity of Nord Stream 1, the single biggest pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany, to 20% over what it describes as faulty equipment, most notably the delayed return of the SGT-A65 turbine.

Germany disputes that and has said that the turbines are 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 on Monday.

Gazprom has also halted another Siemens Energy gas turbine at the station, citing routine maintenance and the "technical condition" of the engine.

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 so-called driving centrifugal compressors, which essentially raise pressure by condensing gas volumes to ensure smooth transport of the fuel.

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 make sure 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, according to a source familiar with how the station operates.

Gazprom did not reply to repeated questions about Nord Stream 1 operations.

"Understandably a lot of people are saying 'this is just the Russians making excuses while they put pressure on the European energy market'," Jonathan Stern, distinguished research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said.

"That is entirely possible because we just don't know enough from either Siemens or Gazprom about the maintenance schedule. The problem is that neither side is giving us the information we need."

The Portovaya compressor station is located near the Russian city of Vybord 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 megawatts.

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 earlier this month in parliament that Russia is speeding up trials of the large turbines "in the interests of the Russian power sector".

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jan Harvey)

The girls can't hide their excitement as they're brought out to the racing arena.

Pink Dot SG, a support group for the LGBT community, said the repeal is a "hard-won victory".

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for support for DPM Lawrence Wong and the 4G leaders in his National Day Rally speech. Here's what he said.

Big-hitting Australian batsman David Warner Sunday signed a two-year deal with Sydney Thunder, ending a nine-year absence from the Big Bash League.

PM Lee Hsien Loong gave an update on the measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (21 August).

Rescue workers searched through the rubble of a Shiite Muslim shrine in central Iraq into Sunday night, after a landslide killed at least five people including a child.

Russian fertilisers and agricultural products must be able to reach world markets "unimpeded" or a global food crisis could strike as early as next year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Saturday.

With top clubs struggling to find consistency and smaller clubs outsmarting them, this EPL season is set to be an exhilarating ride, says Neil Humphreys.

Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk won his rematch against Anthony Joshua by split decision to retain his world heavyweight titles in just his fourth fight in the division in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Russia might take the provocative step of putting Ukrainian soldiers on trial as Kyiv marks 31 years of independence for the war-ravaged country next week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Sunday.

The United Arab Emirates said Sunday that its ambassador to Tehran would resume duties within days, six years after ties were downgraded in support of Saudi Arabia.

The series is dedicated to inspirational men and women in Singapore leading healthy and active lifestyles. This week: student Esther Chiang.

The much anticipated announcement by PM Lee at National Day Rally 2022 comes after years of contentious debates over the law that criminalises gay sex.

The daughter of Alexander Dugin, a hardline Russian ideologue close to President Vladimir Putin, has been killed in a car bombing on Moscow's outskirts, authorities said on Sunday.

Hired killers couldn’t muster the courage to kill the man, and ended up partying with him instead

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Pakistan's former premier Imran Khan, who was facing charges on Sunday under an anti-terror act for threats to police and a magistrate, accused the government of temporarily blocking YouTube to deny live access to his speech at a political rally. Khan has been making fiery speeches to gatherings across the South Asian nation as he pushes for new elections after being ousted from power in April through a parliamentary vote. The Youtube blocking accusation followed a ban on Saturday by the electronic media regulator on the live broadcast of Khan's speeches, citing what it called his "hate speech" against state institutions.

Millions of children in the Philippines returned to school as the academic year started on Monday, with many taking their seats in classrooms for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Ex-Foreign Minister George Yeo, who has just released his book "Musings", talks to Yahoo about issues ranging from state funding for SPH to China's Xinjiang dilemma in the second of a two-part interview.

Russia might take the provocative step of putting Ukrainian soldiers on trial as Kyiv marks 31 years of independence for the war-ravaged country next week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Sunday. Zelensky cited media reports that Russia was preparing to put Ukrainian fighters captured during the siege of Mariupol on a public trial to coincide with the independence anniversary Wednesday. Ukraine's Independence Day, August 24, will also mark six months since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic, in a devastating war that has cost thousands of lives. "If this despicable court takes place, if our people are brought into these settings in violation of all agreements, all international rules, there will be abuse," Zelensky warned in an evening address. "This will be the line beyond which no negotiations are possible." The capital Kyiv has already announced a ban on public gatherings. Kharkiv too, declared a curfew around the holiday. Zelensky was returning to a subject he had already raised in the previous night's remarks. "Russia could try to do something particularly disgusting, particularly cruel," he warned late Saturday. "One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us," and "to sow despondency, fear and conflict". But he added: "We have to be strong enough to resist all provocation" and "make the occupiers pay for their terror". - 'Be vigilant' - A presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said Russia could intensify its bombing campaign. "Russia is an archaic state that links its actions to certain dates, it's an obsession of sorts," the Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted him as saying. "They hate us and will try to increase... the number of bombings of our cities including Kyiv with cruise missiles," Podolyak added. Kyiv authorities on Sunday banned public gatherings from August 22 to August 25. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the regional governor announced a curfew from the evening of August 23 to the morning of August 25. "We will not allow any provocation by the enemy. Be as vigilant as possible during our independence holiday," Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram. Kharkiv has been under regular Russian bombardment for weeks and on Sunday emergency services said a woman was killed and two other civilians were wounded in overnight strikes. Four civilians were reported killed by Russian fire in Donetsk, said the region's pro-Kyiv governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko. Five cruise missiles were fired at Odessa from the Black Sea, a regional administration spokesman said. Two were shot down by air defences and three hit a silo without causing injury. ant/jj/mlm

Sexuality education taught in Singapore's educational institutions will remain secular, said the Ministry of Education following the S377A repeal announcement.