Berlin is already under serious pressure after Russia cut flows through Nord Stream 1, the key connector with Europe, which is currently running at just 20 per cent capacity.

"Russia needs official confirmation that this and other turbines, which require routine maintenance and repair, will not fall under the sanctions of the EU, Canada and the UK," it said.

Russia’s natural gas exports by pipeline to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) declined by almost 40% during the first seven months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021 and by almost 50% compared with the previous five-year (2017–21) average,

Benchmark German power for next year rose as much as 4.5% to a record 446 euros a megawatt-hour on the European Energy Exchange.

Benchmark gas declined as much as 2.9%, sliding for a third session. The continent’s storage sites are 72% full, compared to the average for the previous five years of 70.1%, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe show.

Energy consumer prices are rising at an annual rate of nearly 40 per cent in the eurozone and 57 per cent in the UK, reflecting the surge in wholesale gas and oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That is drastically eating into households’ disposable income.

TotalEnergies said it would boost spending on short-cycle projects this year to help ease Europe's growing energy supply crunch. It expects its full-year capital spending to hit $16 billion in 2022 as it hopes to increase its sources of European natural gas and produce more LNG in the coming months.

The region imported almost 700,000 barrels a day of the fuel from Russia last month, higher than the previous month and a 22 per cent increase compared with July last year

Russia has cut exports to Europe to multiyear lows this summer -- supplying less than a third of normal volumes -- and there’s no clarity on further moves.

Gas prices jumped more than 10% following Gazprom’s decision to reduce Nord Stream flows even further. Moscow has been curbing shipments to the EU for months over apparent retaliation for the bloc’s support for Ukraine and sanctions over Russia’s invasion.