Why did Nord Stream 1 stay shut in September 2022?

What was the state of Russian gas supplies to Europe on 8 September 2022? The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was not delivering, and the explanations offered by Gazprom in the preceding days had shifted.

On 2 September 2022, following the G7's announcement, Gazprom said flows through the pipeline would not resume the next day. It cited a reported "oil leak" in a turbine. The company gave no new time frame for restarting deliveries.

Three days later, on 5 September 2022, Gazprom changed its position. It announced that gas flows through Nord Stream 1 to Europe would not resume until sanctions against Russia were lifted. The earlier technical explanation was thus followed by an explicit condition tied to sanctions.

This was the situation as 8 September 2022 arrived: a major pipeline to Europe remained closed, with no restart date and a condition attached. The episode forms part of what is described as the 2022 Russia–European Union gas dispute.