TTF European benchmark natural gas prices are down after a Nord Stream announced it won’t be conducting a three-day maintenance shutdown at month end. The shutdown was announced on the weekend and led to yesterday’s spike in TTF prices and decline in the euro to the worst since 2002.

Nord Stream now says it won’t be carrying out the maintenance at the Portovaya offshore compressor station because it lies outside of the responsibility zone of Nord Stream.

That sounds like quite the SNAFU and also like Gazprom (and Russia) were playing games, but that’s nothing new.

Update: On a second read of this, some traders are informing me that what Nord Stream is saying is that it won’t be the one doing the maintenance but the work will still go ahead. Though it’s not clear who will be doing it (Gazprom?) or necessarily when. The whole thing adds a new complication.