Russia cuts gas flows to Europe before winter heating season

Russia decreased gas flows to Europe on Wednesday as it hardens the Europe’s situation to fill flow the bloc storage ahead of the winter heating season.

Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom (GAZP.MM) has warned earlier this week about this action for turbine maintenance.

GAZP.MM has reduced the capacity of Nord Stream 1 pipeline the major delivery route to Europe for Russian gas to a mere fifth of its total capacity.

EU countries have approved a weakened emergency plan to limit gas demand after striking compromise deals to limit cuts for some countries, hoping lower consumption will ease the impact in case Moscow stops supplies quiet.

Russia is the most important gas supplier in the EU, according to the GTAS Forecasting data in 2021 Russian gas exports to the EU amounted to 36.5 percent of total gas imports excluding the intra-EU trade.