Despite news that Russia’s Gazprom PJSC could be receiving a vital turbine engine for its Nord Stream 1 (NS1) pipeline system, European natural gas markets creeped upward again on anxiety over prolonged transmission outages and extreme summer heat.

russian gas pipeline map

Gazprom blamed sanctions delaying the equipment’s return from a Canadian maintenance facility affiliated with Siemens AG for forcing it to reduce western flows on NS1 to around 40% of capacity since mid-June. Gazprom confirmed in a Saturday statement it had “formally approached” Siemens and had been assured its engine would soon be returned to the compressor station (CS) at Portovaya.

“Gazprom expects that the Siemens Group will unconditionally fulfill its obligations on the maintenance of the gas turbine engines that are...