With Europe racing to prepare for next winter, Russia continues to curtail its pipeline gas exports. On July 21 the Nord Stream 1 pipeline returned from scheduled maintenance at just 40 percent of capacity. Reduced volumes or an unscheduled shutdown will jeopardize efforts by Germany and other EU economies to refill their gas inventories by late fall. The European Commission has urged all member states to reduce their gas use by 15 percent beginning on August 1.
