The motive here is obvious. It is to stop any remaining gas shipments from Russia to Germany without formally violating their contracts and providing plausible deniability for future restoration negotiations using the newer Nordstream 2 pipeline which has much larger capacity anyway.

Germany has struggled to store enough gas storage for winter. They have told the public they have enough, however those estimates assumed a continued flow along the Nordstream 1 pipeline.

I suspect we will see additional oil/gas supply "mystery disruptions" to reduce Europe's willingness to support Ukraine and pressure Ukraine to accept a ceasefire along the existing front (which will defacto annex a big chunk of Ukraine to Russia).

It's going to be a cold and politically difficult winter in Europe.

> Germany has struggled to store enough gas storage for winter. They have told the public they have enough, however those estimates assumed a continued flow along the Nordstream 1 pipeline.

This isn't true based on what I've read in German and Swedish news. Storage was filling ahead of usual schedule, already having enough to sustain through the winter. What we haven't got, in my understanding, is any buffer room whatsoever. What's your source that knows better than public service news here?

Edit: Here's a Bloomberg article about how you're wrong: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/europe-is...