Russian gas transit to Europe via Poland temporarily halted: operator

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Shocking news, I know...  < eye roll >

Russian gas transit to Europe via Poland temporarily halted: operator

MOSCOW/WARSAW (Reuters) - Russian natural gas transit via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which crosses Poland, has been temporary halted, but capacity auction results indicate flows will rise again in June, data from Poland’s gas system operator showed on Tuesday.

A gas transit deal between Russia and Poland, dating back to the 1990s, expired on May 17 as Warsaw aligns its energy regulations with European Union rules and curbs its decades-old dependence on Russian fuel.

As a result, flows through the pipeline have stopped, Interfax news agency reported earlier on Tuesday, citing German pipeline operator Gascade.

Poland’s operator Gaz-System has now started to sell pipeline capacity via daily, monthly, quarterly and annual auctions, with two industry sources saying capacity in the daily auctions is the most expensive.

“At the moment the capacity being booked is significantly smaller, but it has been booked constantly since May 17,” Gaz-System said in an e-mailed statement.

It added that with the low levels, there was no need for pumping stations, and therefore the pipeline, to work for the whole day.

Capacity reservations for Sunday and Monday were significantly lower than in the previous periods, the operator said, but auction results show that around 92% of capacity has been booked for June and around 80% for the quarter starting on July 1.

Poland’s minister responsible for gas infrastructure said earlier in May that he would expect Russia to continue sending the same or similar amounts of gas as before the deal expired.

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Related:   

Russian Gas Flows to Europe Plunge After Prices Collapse

(Bloomberg) -- Natural gas flows from Europe’s biggest supplier slumped after a price rout and with storage sites at above-average levels.

Flows from Russia via the Yamal-Europe pipeline that runs across Belarus and Poland to Mallnow, Germany, slumped to zero Tuesday after a sharp decline since Sunday. Shipments into Baumgarten in Austria, a major European hub for Russian gas, fell by 25% from its 10-day average.

 

Operators Gascade Gastransport GmbH and Gas Connect Austria GmbH have not notified the market of any currently planned or unplanned works. Gazprom PJSC, the Russian piped-gas exporter, didn’t immediately comment on the drop in supplies.

“Such a significant reduction in gas transit is primarily driven by weak demand in Europe amid warm winter, high levels of gas in underground storage and demand distortion due to Covid-19,” VTB Capital said in a note.  ...

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

And a bit earlier:

Russian gas transit via Poland has almost halted

Yamal pipeline [Gazprom]

 

Russian natural gas transit via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which traverses Poland, has almost dried up, Interfax cited gas pipeline operators as saying on Monday (25 May), days after a gas transit deal between Moscow and Warsaw expired.

Russian gas giant Gazprom declined immediate comment.

The gas transit deal between Russia and Poland, dating back to the 1990s, expired on 17 May as Warsaw aligns its energy regulations with European Union rules and curbs its decades-old dependence on Russian fuel.

Poland’s gas grid operator Gaz-System reiterated that after the transit deal expired it started selling capacity on the Yamal pipeline via auctions.

It said that the capacity booked for Sunday was significantly lower than for the previous periods and that “there is no need for the pumping stations to work for 24 hours a day at such low orders for the transit service”.

According to Gaz-System, clients booked 4 million kWh/h each for Sunday and Monday, compared to around 12.5 million booked for Saturday.

Danila Bochkarev, Senior Fellow with the EastWest Institute, made the forecast in an op-ed with EURACTIV in April that in the absence of Brussels lending a hand, the risk of disruption of supply via the Yamal pipeline was real.