Russia on July 21 resumed critical gas supplies to Europe through Germany, reopening the Nord Stream gas pipeline after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance, but the gas flow was expected to fall well short of full capacity.
Amid growing tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, German officials had feared that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which had been closed since July 11 for annual maintenance work, might not reopen at all.
Operator Nord Stream AG said that gas started flowing again on July 21 in the morning but the flow would take a while to ramp up.
The head of Germany's network regulator, Klaus Mueller, said Russia’s Gazprom had notified deliveries on July 21 of only about 30 percent of the pipeline's capacity.
Nord Stream 1 is Germany's main source of Russian gas, which has accounted for around one-third of Europe's largest economy's gas supplies.