“Today the G7 has taken an essential step towards achieving our twin goals of putting downward pressure on global energy prices while depriving (Vladimir) Putin of revenue to fund his brutal war. in Ukraine,” immediately greeted US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. On the same subject Energy: the government’s leap of faith for a benevolent winter Few announcements coming out of the Energy Defense Council. To get through the winter and protect individuals and businesses, the government is pinning its hopes on the rapid restart of EDF nuclear reactors and on a coordinated European intervention on the electricity market Russian reprisalRussia has on its side, even before its formalization, denounced a “completely absurd” measure, then the Russian giant Gazprom announced that the Nord Stream gas pipeline, linking Russia to northern Germany, which was to resume service on Saturday after a new three-day interruption for operations of maintenance, will finally be “completely” stopped until the repair of a turbine of this vital pipeline for the supply of Europeans. In a press release, Gazprom indicated Friday evening to have discovered “oil leaks” in the turbine, during a technical inspection related to this maintenance operation in a compressor station located in Russia. The Russian group reports a leak on “cables connected to speedometers of a rotor”. He posted a photo on Telegram showing cables surrounded by a brownish liquid. These technical problems make it impossible to ensure “safe operation of the gas turbine engine”, maintains Gazprom, relying on a warning from the Russian Civil Industry Monitoring Agency. “Not a technical reason” sufficient But for the manufacturer company of Siemens Energy turbines, an oil leak alone cannot justify, from a technical point of view, the stoppage of the gas pipeline. “As a turbine manufacturer, we can affirm that such a finding does not constitute a technical reason to stop operations,” said Siemens Energy, adding that in the past the occurrence of “this type of leak has not not lead to the cessation of operations”. For the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, “this decision by Gazprom is obviously not surprising. But the use of the gas weapon will not undermine the Union’s resolve. We will accelerate our efforts towards energy independence.” This development will accentuate the anxiety of Europeans, who are struggling to avoid an energy crisis this winter and accuse Moscow of using gas as a weapon to avenge sanctions after the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Earlier in the day, the Kremlin had claimed that only one turbine was operating there and that Nord Stream’s activity was “threatened” by a shortage of spare parts due to sanctions. targeting Moscow. Moscow claims in particular that these sanctions prevent the return of a Siemens turbine which had been sent to Canada for repair. Germany, where the turbine is located, ensures that it is Russia that is blocking the return of this key piece. ceased its gas supplies, via other pipelines, to several European Union countries, such as Bulgaria and Poland. And, in July, Gazprom had already carried out ten days of maintenance work on the Nord Stream gas pipeline which was then restarted but with a further drop in deliveries. It now seems that fears of a total halt in Russian deliveries with the approach of winter are confirmed.To compensate for the missing quantities, Europeans are trying to find other suppliers and reduce their consumption against a backdrop of skyrocketing gas prices on the markets and the specter of recession .In Germany, activity is expected to contract in the second half, weighed down by the impact of soaring energy prices on the powerful industrial sector. In Europe’s largest economy, however, the threat of a gas shortage this winter seems to be receding. The country is struggling to reduce its dependence on Russia, which still reached 55% of gas imports in February.