The Nord Stream 1 pipeline that supplies heating gas from Russia to Europe is shutting down for maintenance—again—causing concern that the region won’t be able to stockpile enough supplies to stay warm through winter. International leaders and energy officials believe that Russia is weaponizing its energy supplies in retaliation for European sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Those sanctions included the cancelation of the pipeline’s successor, the Nord Stream 2. Russia is Europe’s primary gas supplier, typically shipping 170 million cubic meters of gas per day to Germany through the pipeline, but Russia has slowly been cutting off areas of Europe and drastically decreasing output since the war began. In May, Gazprom, the state-run company that owns the pipeline, cut off supply to Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland, then reduced its output to the rest of the continent by a whopping 75 percent. In July, Gazprom shut down the pipeline for 10 days, claiming maintenance issues, before halving its deliveries again.
