The boss of Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom has said it is a case of “our product, our rules” after the firm halved its supply to Germany.
The German economy minister has accused Gazprom of attempting to push up energy prices by sharply reducing supplies.
But Gazprom said it was due to the delayed return of equipment serviced by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Canada.
Italy and Austria have also reported big falls in Russian gas supply. The Kremlin said this was not premeditated.
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Russia would play by its own rules after limiting the amount of gas to Germany to under 70m cubic metres per day – well under half the current rate.
“Our product, our rules. We don’t play by rules we didn’t create,” Mr Miller said during a panel discussion at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He said he saw no solution to the equipment issue at the Portovaya compressor station, part of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that carries Russian gas to Germany.
Mr Miller blamed sanctions for hampering the return of equipment – a claim Germany dismissed as “unfounded”.
Meanwhile, Italian energy giant Eni said it would receive only 65% of the gas requested on Thursday from Gazprom, because of the problems at Portovaya.
But the Italian government has all possible counter-measures in place if gas supply cuts from Russia continue in the coming days, the country’s ecological transition minister said on Thursday.
“The gas situation is under control, we are monitoring flows day and night, damages are so far limited,” Roberto Cingolani said.
(Source BBC)
