The price of gas in Europe approached the $1,600 per 1,000 m³ mark during trading on the stock exchange on Thursday, data from London’s ICE exchange showed.

The price of August futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands rose to $1,582 per 1,000 cubic meters, or €145.75 per MWh (based on the current euro-dollar exchange rate, prices on ICE are presented in euros per MWh), tass.ru reports.

Overall, the cost of gas has been increasing by almost 4% since the beginning of trading.

“Gazprom said on June 14 that it was forced to reduce gas supplies via Nord Stream compared to the plan due to Siemens’ untimely return of gas compressor units after repairs and identified technical faults of the engines. Siemens Energy claims that one of the gas turbines for Nord Stream cannot yet be returned to Germany from Montreal after being repaired because of Canadian sanctions against Russia. Because of this, the Nord Stream pipeline is currently pumping 40% of the pipeline’s maximum capacity.

Vice Chancellor of Germany, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck called to reduce gas consumption in the country in light of the decline in gas supplies through the “Nord Stream” and called the situation a “gas crisis”.

At the same time, from July 11 to July 21, the annual scheduled work on the pipeline with temporary shutdown of both Nord Stream lines is scheduled, according to the data of the Nord Stream AG operator.