RUSSIA

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BUSINESS INSIDER

"Russia plans to launch a national oil trading platform to foil Western energy measures, report says"


jsor@insider.com (Jennifer Sor)

14 JULY 2022

*Russian officials and oil producers are in discussion to create a global benchmark for Russian crude.

* The initiative been sped along by talk of a price cap on Russian oil, a source told Bloomberg.

* The country is seeking to sell oil without restrictions, hoping to evade western sanctions.


Russia plans to create its own national oil benchmark in an attempt by the country to blunt Western sanctions and evade a possible price cap imposed on Russian oil.

Russian officials said that the country's oil suppliers and its central bank have begun discussions to launch a national oil trading platform in the fall of this year, Bloomberg reported.

The trading platform would be meant to attract enough buyers to establish Russian crude as its own benchmark by mid-2023, adjacent to WTI crude and Brent crude on the global commodities market.

Russia has attempted — and so far, failed — to establish a benchmark for its Urals blend crude for the past 10 years, but the idea has grown more attractive to its oil producers and policymakers after the country was hit with a flurry of sanctions from Western countries, with plans underway to impose a price cap on Russian oil.

Recent discussions between currently plan to cap Russian crude to $40-$60, although the Russian officials have previously suggested such a proposal will "collapse" and will result in retaliation, spiking oil prices even higher.

If that's the case, oil could be as expensive as $150 a barrel, analysts said.

The country is currently seeking to sell as much oil as it can without any restrictions, two sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

One source added that the decision to implement an oil benchmark was partly spurred by ongoing talks of a price cap at the G-7 summit earlier this month.

In order for the new benchmark to be recognized globally, Russia must sort out any necessary legal framework prior to the launch of the platform, which the government has yet to do, a document leaked to Bloomberg said.

The trading platform would also need to amass high enough trading volume, which the country has failed to do in the past at other commodity exchanges.

But Russia's fuel economy has been hot, making it possible the country will reach that threshold.

Despite offering a steep discount to its allies, Russia has pulled in nearly $100 billion in revenue from its fuel exports in its first 100 days of invading Ukraine, and pulled in $24 billion from Chinese and Indian buyers alone in the first three months of the war.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... a1fcc018ac
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Re: RUSSIA

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BLOOMBERG

"Janet Yellen Says Russians Have ‘No Place’ at G-20 Session in Bali"


Christopher Condon

14 JULY 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russian government officials had “no place” at the upcoming meetings for finance chiefs from the world’s leading economies in Bali, Indonesia.

“Russia’s actions are not the actions of a government that upholds international norms and laws,” Yellen told reporters when discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Representatives of the Putin regime have no place at this forum.”

Yellen said she hopes India and China will see the benefits of a proposal to cap the price paid for Russia’s oil exports, adding that the lack of a price-cap plan would be worse for Russia.

She said a decision on an oil price-cap level hadn’t yet been made.

Energy-related price growth was responsible for almost half of the US inflation surge, Yellen said.

Consumer inflation is “unacceptably high” and the Biden administration supports the Federal Reserve’s efforts to curb it, she told reporters.

Yellen argued that officials from the Group of 20 should put more pressure on China over debt issues, including working to restructure debt for lower-income countries such as Sri Lanka.

Yellen spoke on the eve of two days of meetings on the Indonesian resort island.

An impasse on how to characterize the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is hanging over prospects for agreement at the G-20 meetings.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/j ... c9e1f6d6b1
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Re: RUSSIA

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CNBC

"Yellen says price cap on Russian oil is ‘one of our most powerful tools’ to address inflation"


Su-Lin Tan @SULIN_TAN

PUBLISHED THU, JUL 14 2022

KEY POINTS

* “We’re seeing negative spillover effects from [the Russia-Ukraine] war in every corner of the world, particularly with respect to higher energy prices, and rising food insecurity,” Yellen said the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Bali.

* “A price cap on Russian oil is one of our most powerful tools to address the pain that Americans and families across the world are feeling at the gas pump and the grocery store right now,” she added.


BALI, Indonesia — A cap on Russian oil prices will be crucial to help bring down inflation as U.S. consumer inflation soared to a 40-year high of 9.1% this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday.

Speaking before the start of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Bali, Yellen said efforts must be expended to rein in two key economic fallouts from the Russia-Ukraine crisis — that is, high fuel prices and rising food insecurity which are sweeping across the U.S. and globally.


High energy costs contributed heavily to the spike in U.S. inflation this week, she added.

“We’re seeing negative spillover effects from [the Russia-Ukraine] war in every corner of the world, particularly with respect to higher energy prices, and rising food insecurity,” Yellen said.

She said the U.S. will continue conversations with other countries to see “what we can do together to help others around the world impacted by Russia’s war.”

It includes addressing food insecurity, and the design and implementation of a price cap on Russian oil, she added.

“A price cap on Russian oil is one of our most powerful tools to address the pain that Americans and families across the world are feeling at the gas pump and the grocery store right now."

"A limit on the price of Russian oil will deny Putin revenue his war machine needs.”

As Washington bans Russian oil and European countries look to cut Russian oil use, prices of oil have surged.

Crude oil prices rose above $120 a barrel in March after the Russia-Ukraine war started.

Economists have warned that further bans could propel prices to as high as $175 a barrel.

The price cap mechanism involved the U.S. and other countries forming a cartel to buy Russian oil at a low enough price to keep Russian oil production profitable and supply forthcoming but at the same time starve Russia from being able to fund its war in Ukraine.

“We’ll build on the historic sanctions we’ve already implemented that make it more difficult for him to wage his war or grow his economy,” Yellen said.


Russia has been silent on the proposal, while other countries like India have not weighed in.

On Thursday, China indicated the price cap could worsen the Ukraine crisis.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokeswoman Shu Jueting said a price cap would be complicated and instead urged countries to pursue peace talks in order to end the war.

Yellen said she is hopeful the price cap will be attractive to many Russian oil importing companies as it will mitigate the high costs of import due to insurance and financial bans on Russian oil deliveries.


Late last month, the European Union imposed a ban on insuring ships transporting Russian oil.

“So I’m hopeful that China and India will see that observing a price cap would serve their own interests in lowering the price that they pay for Russian oil, they’re important importers,” Yellen said.

“But even if they don’t observe the price cap, I think it’s certain that many countries that import Russian oil will be affected by the insurance and financial services ban that the EU, and presumably the UK and the U.S. will put into effect."

The Treasury Secretary said that without the price cap, “we would likely see very much higher global prices because that ban would result in ... a significant amount of a shut in for Russian oil.”

— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/yellen- ... ation.html
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Re: RUSSIA

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NEWSWEEK

"EU Allows Russia to Move Goods Through NATO Nations After Putin Warning"


Zoe Strozewski

13 JULY 2022

Russia is permitted to transit sanctioned goods through European Union nations as long as it is done by rail, the bloc's executive arm said Wednesday.

In June, Lithuania applied EU sanctions, which were imposed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, to restrict the transit of certain Russian goods like coal, iron and steel to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Kaliningrad is a piece of Russian-controlled territory sandwiched between the Baltic Sea and Lithuania and Poland, both of which are members of the EU and NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration sharply condemned the move, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling it "more than serious" and a "violation of everything," according to Reuters.

Putin ally Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, also warned of "serious consequences" as a result of the restrictions, the Guardian reported.

This encouraged fears that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War could escalate dramatically, since the targeting of a NATO member state could force direct involvement from the military alliance.

New legal guidance issued by the European Commission on Wednesday specified that while "the transit of sanctioned goods by road with Russian operators is not allowed" under the EU's sanctions, "no such similar prohibition exists for rail transport."

This means that Russia can, in fact, transit the sanctioned goods by rail to Kaliningrad through NATO members Lithuania and Poland.

The guidance said that EU member states will keep tabs on whether the transit volumes are in line with averages of the last three years, "in particular reflecting the real demand for essential goods at the destination, and that there are no unusual flows or trade patterns that could give rise to circumvention."

"The transit of sanctioned military and dual use goods and technology is fully prohibited in any event — regardless of the mode of transport," it added.

The European Commission called on its member states to prevent any "circumvention" of the bloc's restrictions, as well as to monitor trade flows between Russia and Kaliningrad to make sure that sanctioned goods can't enter EU customs territory.

It also stressed the importance of the EU's sanctions in responding to Russia's ongoing invasion, saying that the restrictions are "unprecedented and designed to increase economic pressure on Russia and undermine its ability to wage its war on Ukraine."

"The EU stands united in solidarity with Ukraine and will continue to support Ukraine and its people together with its international partners, including through additional political, financial and humanitarian support," the European Commission said in a press release.

Newsweek reached out to the European Commission and the foreign ministries of Lithuania and Russia for comment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/eu ... c8ae6682d3
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Re: RUSSIA

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BLOOMBERG

"Russia Orders Forces to Strike Ukraine’s Long-Range Weapons"


Bloomberg News

18 JULY 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered part of his forces to focus on destroying Ukraine’s long-range missile and artillery systems during a visit to troops in occupied territory.

Shoigu “instructed the commander to prioritize the defeat of long-range rocket and artillery weapons of the enemy with high-precision weapons” during a meeting with the military’s Vostok group, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.

It wasn’t clear how much of a change this would represent since Russian troops have tried for months to destroy Ukrainian weapons in a “demilitarization” campaign that’s had mixed success as the US and its European allies step up supplies of equipment to help the government in Kyiv.

Ukraine has received eight advanced US-supplied HIMARS long-range artillery systems in recent weeks capable of striking Russian targets as far as 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.

That has allowed it to hit logistics centers, supply lines and ammunition dumps deep behind the front lines and mostly from beyond the range of Russian artillery.

The US has promised to send Ukraine four more HIMARS, while the UK has also pledged to supply long-range missile systems.

Ukrainian military intelligence “constantly follows” the movement of Russian command posts and equipment in the occupied territories, Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the service said in televised comments Monday.

“The enemy evaluated the threat and started to relocate its storage to further away from the front line.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Sunday that it had destroyed a HIMARS launcher and transport-loading vehicle in the Donetsk region and struck a warehouse in Odesa containing Harpoon anti-ship weapons.

Ukrainian officials haven’t commented on those claims, which could not be independently verified.

Ukraine sees Russian forces struggling to find safe places to store munitions in occupied areas as they increasingly lack transport to move them, Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the military’s southern command said on TV.

Shoigu earlier ordered the Russian military in Ukraine to intensify actions “in all operational areas” during a visit to troops in the South and Center groups seeking to take control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, according to the Defense Ministry.

Russia’s military has regrouped for a grinding campaign to try to occupy Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions after Ukrainian forces rebuffed its efforts to seize the capital, Kyiv, following President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion order.

Five months into the war, Ukraine is moving to try to reclaim parts of the south of the country taken by Russian troops.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ru ... 0a0b8c2b0a
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Re: RUSSIA

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REUTERS

"Uniper has received Gazprom's force majeure letter on gas supplies"


By Reuters Staff

JULY 18, 2022

FRANKFURT, July 18 (Reuters) - Uniper, Germany’s top importer of Russian gas, on Monday said it had received a letter from Gazprom in which the firm retroactively claims force majeure for past and current shortfalls in gas deliveries.

“Uniper considers this to be unjustified and has formally rejected the force majeure claim,” the company said in a statement.


The letter, dated July 14 and seen by Reuters on Monday, may shield Gazprom from compensation payments for disrupted supplies, but risks escalating tensions between Russia and the West over the invasion of Ukraine that Moscow calls a “special military operation”.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Jan Harvey)

https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine ... SL8N2YZ3VA
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REUTERS

"Gazprom bond payments trickle through to some creditors as sanctions rise"


By Reuters Staff

JULY 19, 2022

LONDON (Reuters) -Payments due on international bonds issued by Russia’s Gazprom have been transferred to some creditors, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, amid the economic tit-for-tat surrounding the country’s gas flows to Europe.

This includes the payment due on a 500 million Swiss franc ($516 million) bond maturing on Tuesday and two other payments that fell due on June 29, the source told Reuters.

Another source confirmed that the latter two payments had found their way to some creditors.

However, a payment due on a $1 billion dollar-denominated bond maturing on Tuesday had not yet reached investors, the first source added.

Russia and a number of its corporates - once investors’ darlings for lucrative yields and healthy state finances - have found themselves unable to service its debt following Western sanctions aimed at stopping Moscow’s military actions in Ukraine.

The country’s firms had nearly $100 billion in hard-currency bonds outstanding when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, around half of which had been issued by quasi sovereign issuers with a heavy skew toward the dominant oil and gas sector, data from JPMorgan showed.


Payments from the Kremlin-controlled energy giant come against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Europe and Russia over the delivery of gas to the region through a key pipeline that is undergoing 10 days of annual maintenance scheduled to conclude on Thursday.

The White House and Moody’s credit agency last month said Russia had defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century, after foreign investors did not receive $100 million in coupon payments on two Eurobonds.

Russia’s finance ministry rejected the claims of default and said it had fulfilled obligations by making the sovereign coupon payments to its onshore National Settlement Depository in euros and dollars.

CONCERNS OVER PAYMENTS

Gazprom is not sanctioned by the United State or the European Union, though some countries such as Poland, Australia and Canada have put measures on the gas monopoly in place.

However, concerns over whether payments would find their way through to creditors had risen after delays occurred in processing payments due end-June.

Gazprom and Citi - the latter acting as the agent on some of the bonds - did not reply to a request for comment.

Deutsche Bank, which acts as the trustee on a number of securities, declined to comment.

The firm has issued its Eurobonds mainly via Gaz Finance and Gaz Capital, its finance arms based in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, respectively.

Terms for both bonds have a clause that “default will not be an Event of Default if it occurs by reason only of administrative or technical difficulties affecting the transfer of the funds due from Gazprom.”

That would appear to provide Gazprom with an argument to challenge being called in default if it made a payment but the funds were blocked by sanctions.

The issue documentation also says default will occur if “Gazprom fails to pay ... within 14 business days, in respect of interest or any additional amounts, any amount payable under a loan agreement.”

But that refers to the timing of payment between Gazprom and Gaz Finance, and does not specifically refer to the timing of payment by the latter, said a trader who deals with Russian Eurobonds.

Tuesday would be 14 business days.

“It takes a longer time to process the payments now due to compliance,” the source said, adding that a couple of days’ delay is not unusual.

Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Dhara Ranasinghe, Ed Osmond, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Mark Porter

https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine ... SL8N2Z04JI
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RIGZONE

"Putin Says Nord Stream Will Restart, With Conditions"


by Bloomberg | Bloomberg News

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that Europe would start getting gas again through a key pipeline but warned that unless a spat over sanctioned parts is resolved, flows will be tightly curbed.

Europe is on tenterhooks, waiting to see whether gas flows resume on Thursday when maintenance on the Nord Stream pipeline is set to end.

Putin gave the clearest signal yet that Moscow plans to restart at least some flows.


But if a pipeline part that was caught up in sanctions isn’t returned to Russia, then the link will only work at 20% of capacity as soon as next week -- as that’s when another part that’s now in Russia needs to go for maintenance, Putin said.

After frantic diplomatic efforts by Germany, the turbine is on its way home from Canada.

“If another comes, two will operate."

"If not, just one, so 30 million cubic meters will be pumped per day,” he told reporters after a summit in Iran late Tuesday.

He wants the part back in Russia, along with all its paperwork, he said.

Gas prices were little changed.

Now no gas is flowing through the biggest pipeline to Europe because of maintenance, just as the continent is trying to refill its storage for winter.

Before maintenance, gas was flowing at about 40% of capacity.

Gazprom PJSC is poised to restart flows, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, but at reduced levels, according to people familiar with the situation.

Ultimately, it’s a decision for the Kremlin.

Across the region, officials and businesses have been on edge as to whether Russia will reopen the tap for Nord Stream.

The European Union is working on the assumption flows will be cut and scrambling to find ways to reduce consumption.

The bloc is facing its worst energy crisis in decades, with the threat of shortages undermining the euro and adding to the risks of recession.

Governments have been racing to secure alternate supplies after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, sparking a wave of EU sanctions and retaliatory measures from Moscow.

Officials are aware the clock is ticking toward the colder months when European gas demand for heating is high.

“What Gazprom is going to do tomorrow is your best guess as well as ours,” said European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer, referring to Russia’s state-run supplier.

“What is clear is that when we are preparing winter contingency plans, we base ourselves on the worst possible scenario.”

Even before the works, Gazprom slashed deliveries through the pipeline, citing technical issues at a separate asset that compresses gas for the link.

Earlier this year the company cut supplies to some EU countries over a pay dispute, and more recently it declared force majeure on shipments to several European buyers.

Turbine Saga

Near Russia’s Baltic coast, Gazprom’s Portovaya compressor station is where gas supplies start their 745-mile journey to Germany through Nord Stream.

Russia cited issues with the station -- a separate legal entity from the pipeline, with different ownership -- when it cut supplies last month.

Portovaya has six major gas turbines, enabling it to build sufficient pressure to send gas over such a long distance.

Only two of those units were operating before Nord Stream shut for maintenance earlier this month, according to Gazprom.

The other components needed to be serviced by their manufacturer, Siemens Energy AG.

https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/putin ... 4-article/
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REUTERS

"EU to soften sanctions on Russian banks to allow food trade"


Reuters

July 19, 2022

BRUSSELS, July 19 (Reuters) - The European Union will amend its sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday by allowing the unfreezing of some funds of top Russian banks that may be required to ease bottlenecks in the global trade of food and fertilisers, a draft document showed.

The move comes amid criticism from African leaders about the negative impact of the sanctions on the trade, which may have exacerbated shortages chiefly caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its blockading of ports in the Black Sea.


Under the changed regulation, which is expected to be adopted by EU envoys on Wednesday, EU nations will be able to unfreeze previously blocked economic resources owned by top Russian lenders VTB, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Otkritie FC Bank, VEB, Promsvyazbank and Bank Rossiya, the document said.

Separately, under new sanctions to be adopted on Wednesday, Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, will also become subject to the freezing of its assets, with the exception of resources needed for food trade, an EU official told Reuters.

The draft document said money could be released "after having determined that such funds or economic resources are necessary for the purchase, import or transport of agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers".

Under the revised sanctions, the EU also plans to facilitate exports of food from Russian ports, which traders had stopped servicing after EU sanctions despite the measures explicitly exempting food exports, an official said.

The EU has so far denied its sanctions affected food trade.

The EU, along with the United States, Britain and others, imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russia calls its actions a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine.

Kyiv and the West say Moscow is waging an unprovoked war of aggression.

Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by Gareth Jones

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-07-19/
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REUTERS

"EU tells members to cut gas usage amid new Putin warning"


By Kate Abnett and Nina Chestney

July 20, 2022

Summary

* Nord Stream 1 pipeline out of action for maintenance

* Pipeline due to resume pumping on Thursday

* EU says states must act now to reduce gas consumption

* Germany, others have rationing and other plans in place


BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - The European Union told member states on Wednesday to cut gas usage by 15% until March as an emergency step after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent via the biggest pipeline to Europe could be reduced further and might even stop.

Deliveries via Nord Stream 1, which accounts for more than a third of Russian gas exports to the EU, are due to resume on Thursday after a 10-day halt for annual maintenance.

German gas network operator Gascade said on Wednesday it expects flows to resume at pre-maintenance levels based on current requests for gas.

On July 10, the last full day before maintenance on the pipeline started, flows stood at around 698 GWh.

Supplies via the route had been reduced even before the maintenance outage in a dispute over sanctions, and may now be cut further, while flows via other routes, such as Ukraine, have also fallen since Russia invaded its neighbour in February.

The disruptions have hampered Europe's efforts to refill gas storage before winter, raising the risk of rationing and another hit to fragile economic growth if Moscow further restricts flows in retaliation for Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

The European Commission proposed a voluntary target for all EU states to cut gas use by 15% from August to March, compared with their average consumption in the same period in 2016-2021.

"Russia is blackmailing us."

"Russia is using energy as a weapon."

"And therefore, in any event, whether it's a partial, major cut-off of Russian gas or a total cut-off of Russian gas, Europe needs to be ready," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The Commission proposal would enable Brussels to make the target mandatory in a supply emergency, if the EU declared a substantial risk of severe gas shortages.

The move, which needs the backing of EU states, will be discussed on Friday so ministers can approve it on July 26.

"We believe that a full disruption is likely," one EU official said.

"If we wait, it will be more expensive and it will mean us dancing to Russia's tune."

EU states are trying to ensure storage facilities are 80% full by Nov. 1, from about 65% now.

WILL FLOWS RESUME?

European politicians say Russia is using technical issues as a pretext to cut deliveries.

The Kremlin says Russia is a reliable energy supplier and blames sanctions for reduced flows.

Two Russian sources familiar with export plans said flows via Nord Stream 1 were expected to restart on Thursday but below capacity of 160 million cubic metres (mcm) per day.

Kremlin-controlled Gazprom cut gas exports via the route to 40% capacity in June, blaming delays to the return of a turbine that Siemens Energy was servicing in Canada.

That turbine, which was caught up in sanctions, was reported this week to be on its way back, although Gazprom said on Wednesday it had not received documentation to reinstall it and said the turbine's return and maintenance of other equipment was needed to keep the pipeline running safely.

Putin said there might be a further reduction in supplies or even a complete halt to flows via the pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany, which relies heavily on Russian fuel.

He said equipment was being returned from Canada but said the quality of the returned gear and other parameters meant the pipeline might still be shut down in the future.

"Maybe... they will turn it off at some point, and that's it, and Nord Stream 1 will stop, because they came from there, from Canada," he said in televised comments, without elaborating.

Gas prices have rocketed in volatile trade since the Ukraine crisis erupted.

The front-month gas contract climbed above 160 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on Wednesday, 360% up on a year ago but below its March peak of 335 euros.


'CRUMBLING' EQUIPMENT

The surge in price has squeezed utility companies, triggering bankruptcies.

In Germany, the government plans to inject billions of euros into the country's biggest buyer of Russian gas, Uniper.


Siemens Energy said maintaining turbines for Nord Stream 1 would normally be a routine matter.

It said it would continue maintaining equipment under sanctions if possible and where required, and it would work as fast as it could.

In earlier remarks, Putin said one of the five gas pumping units, operated by Siemens Energy at Nord Stream 1, was out of order due to a "crumbling of inside lining" and another was due to be sent for maintenance on July 26.

Putin said Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, was not to blame for the reduction of gas transit capacity via a network of pipelines to Europe.

He blamed Kyiv for closing one route via Ukraine, although Ukraine's authorities blame the shutdown on Russia's invasion.

In its pivot east, Gazprom said on Wednesday Russian gas supplies heading to China hit a new daily record.

Moscow has been expanding capacity to supply China as deliveries to Europe dwindle, although Russia's far east network is not connected to the European supply system.

European nations, meanwhile, have been chasing alternative supplies, although the global gas market was stretched even before the Ukraine crisis, with demand for the fuel recovering from the pandemic-induced downturn.

Those efforts have included seeking more gas from suppliers linked to Europe by pipeline, such as Algeria, and by building or expanding more liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to receive shipments from much further afield, such as the United States.


Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Carmel Crimmins, Elaine Hardcastle and Barbara Lewis

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-07-20/
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