"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,

Russian oil production in July was only 310,000 b/d below prewar levels, a fall of less than 3 per cent, while total oil exports were down about 580,000 b/d, according to the IEA’s latest monthly oil report.

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.

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.

Natural gas flows from Russia to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline will fall to 33 million cu m/d at 0700 Moscow time (0500 BST) due to the cessation of operations on another Siemens gas turbine at Portovaya

“The resumption this morning of flows along Nord Stream is likely to lead to a collective sign of relief from not just the European gas market, but from the wider economy,”

“Until now I thought we had shot ourselves in the foot,” Orban said. “Now it’s more like the European economy had shot itself in the lungs and it’s now struggling to breathe.”

"What is definitely problematic is to include energy into the sanctions, because a rule must be observed that the sanctions must have a greater impact on Russia than on the countries imposing the sanctions."

"Ensuring stable energy supplies to the Polish system requires the rapid implementation of nuclear technologies," said PKN Orlen President Daniel Obajtek.

They focused on tasks to further promote economic cooperation, including measures to improve the contractual legal framework, boost trade and use national currencies in transactions, as well as to ensure uninterrupted supplies of Russian energy.

In June 2022 Gazprom had reduced gas supplies over the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 67 mcm/d (24.5 bcm/year).

France, Germany and Poland continued to receive term diesel cargoes from Russia, while spot diesel cargoes that would typically supply the UK are now ending up in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub instead, with a few Primorsk cargoes also finding their way to Barcelona.