Gazprom

Natural gas in Europe rose almost 30% in morning trading, the first day since Russia announced it would indefinitely suspend one of its main pipelines to the EU, Nord Stream 1.

Financial markets have been rattled by the shutdown of Russia's Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, as energy pressure on European economies intensifies as winter approaches. The euro fell to a two-year low this morning in early trading on Monday after Russian energy company Gazprom extended the shutdown of its gas pipeline to Germany on Friday night.

The Kremlin said on Monday the halt of gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline was caused by Western sanctions that prevent the maintenance of its infrastructure.

EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has said that the European Union was "well prepared" in the event of a total halt in Russian gas deliveries, thanks to storage capacity and energy-saving measures.     

Gazprom said the gas pipeline to Germany, which was due to open at the weekend, would remain closed until a turbine could be repaired, cutting supplies to Europe indefinitely.

Europe's energy crisis loomed larger on Sept. 2 after Russian energy giant Gazprom said it couldn't resume the supply of natural gas through a major pipeline to Germany for now. The company cited what it said was a need for urgent maintenance work to repair key component- in an announcement made just hours before it had been due to restart deliveries.

President Rumen Radev described as shocking the price of natural gas for September after returning from an official visit to the UAE. Yesterday, the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (EWRC) decided that it would rise the price by nearly 19% compared to August and make it BGN 353.21/Mwh.

Russian state-backed energy company Gazprom is ready to pay the Kremlin 2.5 billion rubles after posting record profits.

The company reported a net profit of 2.5 billion rubles for the first six months of this year. Oil and gas prices rose during that period, pushed up by supply concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Toplofikatsia Sofia (Heating Systems Sofia) owes BGN 399 million to Bulgargaz," Denitsa Zlateva, executive director of Bulgargaz, announced on BNT.

She reminded that "Bulgargaz" cannot by law stop the supply of gas to heating companies and will seek new loans from the Ministry of Energy.

Russia has stopped the supply of natural gas through the Nord Stream pipeline, Russian and Western news agencies reported.