Europe on high alert as Russia temporarily halts gas flows via major pipeline

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, through which Russian natural gas has been flowing to Germany since 2011, will be shut down for around 10 days for scheduled maintenance work.

Europe is bracing for an extended shutdown of Russian gas supplies as maintenance work begins on the Nord Stream 1 line that brings gas to Germany.

Maintenance works that are scheduled to run from Monday through to July 21 got underway as planned on Monday. The Russian gas flows are expected to stop later today.

Europe's single biggest piece of gas import infrastructure is theNord Stream 1.

Europe fears the suspension of deliveries could be extended beyond the 10 day time frame, which could derail the region's winter supply preparations and cause a gas crisis that has prompted skyrocketing energy bills for households and emergency measures from policymakers.

As European governments scramble to fill underground storage with gas supplies to provide households with enough fuel to keep the lights on and homes warm during winter, it came as a surprise.

The EU, which gets 40% of its gas from Russian lines, is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

Klaus Muller, the head of Germany's energy regulator, believes that the Kremlin may continue to reduce Europe's energy supplies beyond the scheduled end of the maintenance works.

It's possible that gas transport won't be resumed for political reasons.

Energy analysts agree that the risk of a temporary interruption is high as Russian gas flows have already dropped by over 50% in the last few months.

Russia's state-backed energy giant has blamed the delayed return of equipment in Canada for its reduced flows.

Canada said over the weekend that it would return a repaired gas turbine back to Germany for use in theNord Stream 1.

If the turbine is returned to Canada, Russia will increase gas supplies to Europe. The Kremlin denied that Russia was using oil and gas to exert political pressure.

According to analysts at the Eurasia Group, if Putin cut off gas supplies beyond the scheduled end of maintenance, Germany would have to move to level three of its emergency gas plan.

The regulators of Germany would have to decide how to distribute gas.

The director of energy, climate and resources at the Eurasia Group told CNBC that such a move would be a "maximum economic warfare" scenario.

Germany has become a hot spot for the whole EU. Germany has Europe's biggest population, the biggest economy, the biggest gas consumer, and the biggest importer of Russian gas. It spills into the rest of Europe if things go wrong in Germany.

Several European countries have had their gas supplies cut off by Russia.

We think Russia will come back a bit. If the Europeans tighten the sanctions further, they want a little bit of a bargaining chip to retaliate.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Chancellor Olaf Scholz are pictured during a weekly cabinet meeting on July 1, 2022.

A spokesman for Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action told CNBC that the government was keeping a close eye on the gas market.

The situation is serious but the security of supply is still assured.

The quantities can be purchased on the market. Storage is still going on at the moment. They said that they are in close contact with the traders who are preparing for this date.