TurkStream due offline June 21-28 for maintenance
Russia's 31.5bn m3/year TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea is due to close on June 21 for one week of repairs, Gazprom has said, further restricting Russian gas transit capacity to Europe.
In a post on its Telegram channel on June 18, Gazprom said that the suspension in gas transport via TurkStream had been agreed in advance with all interested parties. One of TurkStream's two 15.75bn m3/yr strings caters for the Turkish market, while the second enters Bulgaria via Strandzha. From there, gas is typically sent to Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Hungary.
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Gazprom ceased gas sales to Bulgaria in late April, however, over Sofia's refusal to comply with a Kremlin decree on buyers in "unfriendly" countries making payments to gas to accounts at Gazprombank, for conversion into rubles and then transfer to Gazprom.
Russian gas transit capacity to Europe is impaired by limitations at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, where Gazprom has said technical difficulties, including Siemens' failure to return equipment sent off for repair, have curtailed transport capacity by 60%. Germany, Italy and France have subsequently all reported reductions in gas flow, and the government in Berlin has claimed there are political motivations, given that the disruption has coincided with all three countries endorsing Ukraine's bid for EU membership.