Gazprom reduced the supply of gas to Germany to a fifth of the capacity of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on Wednesday, “for technical reasons”, according to the data published by the infrastructure operator on its website, EFE agency reports.

The reduction of the gas flow started at 9:00 Moscow time (6:00 GMT) and, according to the gas company, the daily volume that will be supplied through Nord Stream will be 33 million cubic meters.

Reference prices for energy in Europe continued their upward trend on Wednesday, following Russia’s decision, Bloomberg reports.

Thus, in response, the reference quotations for natural gas increased by up to 14% and are currently 10 times above the usual level at this time of the year. Rising gas prices are affecting Europe’s industrial production, raising household utility bills and driving inflation to its highest level in decades. The increase in the price of natural gas is also reflected in the electricity market, where futures quotes in Germany reached an unprecedented level on Wednesday, according to Agerpres.

“We are in a situation where gas is now a component of Russia’s foreign policy and possibly a component of its war strategy,” Klaus Mueller, president of Germany’s regulatory authority, the Bundesnetzagentur, said on Wednesday.

At around 9:46 a.m., at the Amsterdam gas hub, futures quotes for delivery next month, a benchmark for the European market, were up 11% to 222 euros for a Megawatt hour, as they increased for the sixth consecutive day. Electricity futures quotations on the German market also increased for the fifth consecutive day, in the case of the contract with one year delivery, and an advance of 2.8% was registered, up to 385 euros for one Megawatt hour.