"Gazprom Halts Gas Shipments To Europe Via Critical Pipeline" - Zero Hedge

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

After European nations imported the most gas from Russian sources yesterday in months, scrambling to stock up on supplies as Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadline to either pay for gas in rubles (or be cut off) came and went, Russian gas giant Gazprom has officially halted all deliveries to Europe via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, a critical artery for European energy supplies.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/gazprom-halts-gas-shipments-europe-critical-pipeline

Gazprom Halts Gas Shipments To Europe Via Critical Pipeline

by Tyler Durden

Saturday, Apr 02, 2022 - 08:55 AM

After European nations imported the most gas from Russian sources yesterday in months, scrambling to stock up on supplies as Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadline to either pay for gas in rubles (or be cut off) came and went, Russian gas giant Gazprom has officially halted all deliveries to Europe via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, a critical artery for European energy supplies.  Instead of flowing toward Germany and the EU, gas supplies on Friday and Saturday started flowing in the opposite direction, according to Gascade, the network operator.

In recent months, the EU has already boosted imports of LNG from the US...

...and despite President Biden's promise to bolster to exports to the EU (although he stipulated that not all of this additional capacity would come from the US), researchers at Goldman Sachs have already shown that US exports of LNG are already at capacity.

Another problem for pipeline-dependent Europe: the continent presently doesn't have the infrastructure to allow it to rapidly ramp up imports of LNG, which must be carefully processed and "regassified" before it can be distributed to utilities and other distributors of energy.

A map below illustrates the level of dependence that various European economies have on Russia.

But it's not just the Germans who must now make due without Russian gas supplies. British energy major Shell is being cut off from Russian supplies in response to the UK's economic sanctions on Russia, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"London wants to be the leader of everything anti-Russian. It even wants to be ahead of Washington! That’s the cost!" Peskov outlined.

So far, the UK is the only country to have imposed sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank, through which payments for Russian natural gas are made. The measure effectively denies Britain the ability to pay for the commodity, and has forced Gazprom to walk away from the sales and trading arm. In accordance with Putin's decree that Russian gas be paid for in rubles, Gazprom has set up foreign-currency accounts for customers where their currencies can be converted into rubles on the Moscow exchange.

Now that Putin is turning up the pressure, the European nations have a difficult choice ahead: either they can play ball and demonstrate to the world that their efforts to wean themselves off of their dependence on Russian energy have been mostly in vain. Or they can face a "catastrophic" economic crisis as energy prices soar, leading to rationing, blackouts and other measures that will make the 1970s oil crisis in the US look like child's play.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Tomasz gives us this information...

The Central Bank has determined the procedure for paying for gas in rubles

The Central Bank has determined the regime of special accounts for settlements with foreign buyers for natural gas. 

The Gazprombank will convert the received foreign currency into rubles in accordance with the decree of President Vladimir Putin.

The procedure for converting foreign currency into rubles under gas contracts:

foreign currency under contracts for the supply of natural gas is credited to a type “K” bank account in this currency;

funds of a foreign buyer, on his behalf, are debited from his account of type "K" in foreign currency;

conversion takes place in accordance with paragraph 6 of Decree No. 172;

according to the results of the conversion, funds in rubles are credited to a bank account of type “K” in rubles;

there is a debiting of funds in rubles from a type “K” bank account to the accounts of Russian natural gas suppliers.

Other write-offs and credits to bank accounts of type "K" are carried out according to the standard conditions for the operation of a bank account. Among them is payment for bank services.

President Vladimir Putin today, March 31, signed a decree according to which settlements for gas supplies to "unfriendly countries" will be carried out in rubles. The new gas sales rules will come into effect on April 1. 

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5284007

From the following comment by Tomasz...

https://community.oilprice.com/topic/26278-germany-gets-ready-for-gas-rationing-by-tsvetana-paraskova/#comment-180286

 

 

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Yamal pipeline is not most important pipeline but alternative now from II q of 2020 when polish-russian contract for transit ended. Now Gazprom can book it for every next day on daily auctions.

More important is a fact that gas is flowing throughNord Stream I and Ukraine - probably record numbers as we have now attack of cold in first part of Aprill.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

22 minutes ago, Tomasz said:

Yamal pipeline is not most important pipeline but alternative now from II q of 2020 when polish-russian contract for transit ended. Now Gazprom can book it for every next day on daily auctions.

More important is a fact that gas is flowing throughNord Stream I and Ukraine - probably record numbers as we have now attack of cold in first part of Aprill.

Yamal–Europe pipeline

https://alchetron.com/Yamal–Europe-pipeline

 

https://southfront.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/A-gas-pipeline-network-of-the-European-continent-1024x1024.jpg

A Network of Power: Gas Pipelines of the European Continent (Infographics)

https://southfront.org/network-of-power/

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Gazprom ordered Yamal-Europe for transit through Poland on April 3

MOSCOW, April 2 - PRIME. Gazprom has booked part of the capacity of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline for gas transit through Poland for the entire gas day on April 3, and also ordered a part for the upcoming night. This is evidenced by the results of the auction on the GSA Platform.

The company additionally ordered 533,000 cubic meters per hour, which it will be able to use from 21.00 Moscow time to 07.00 Moscow time on April 3. This is approximately 16% of the total supply at the auction. Earlier, Gazprom ordered 338,000 cubic meters per hour of the pipeline's transit capacity for the current gas day.

In addition, Gazprom ordered 338,000 cubic meters per hour for transit through Yamal-Europe through Poland from 07:00 Moscow time on April 3 to 07:00 Moscow time on April 4. This is approximately 9% of the total transit capacity that was available for booking through the regular auction.

Gazprom resumed deliveries via Yamal-Europe on March 29 after a two-week break. This is one of the main, but balancing routes, deliveries along the highway have noticeably decreased since October last year.

Experts linked the export of Russian gas to Europe, which has increased since the end of February, with risks due to Russia's military operation in Ukraine, as well as with weather forecasts in Europe. The woeurope.eu data indicates some cooling in the region in the last days of March - early April.

https://1prime.ru/gas/20220402/836572336.html

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Gazprom has booked 14% of the capacity of the Yamal-Europe pipeline

18K1 minute....

Gazprom has booked the capacity of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline on the night of Sunday, April 3, Interfax reports, citing GSA Platform data. From the evening of April 2 until the morning, the company ordered the pumping of 0.6 million cubic meters. m per hour. For a full gas day on April 3, the pumping of 0.3 million cubic meters was ordered. m per hour.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline can pump up to 33 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year. The Polish section of the gas pipeline is owned by the joint venture EuRoPol Gaz.

The capacity booked until the morning is about 14% of the gas pipeline's throughput. The pumping was ordered against the backdrop of continuing cold weather in Europe.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5292848

[Tomasz + 1,608]

But yes, some countries will be cut off from gas - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Gas consumption in the order of a few billion m3 per year.

Always extremely anti-Russian attitude and demanding the strictest possible sanctions.

I think that if the Baltic countries do not pay with rubles for gas, they will not get no more gas and it is high time that their gas was provided by their NATO allies.

They demanded always the strictest possible sanctions, and they would receive counter-sanctions from Russia

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

https://community.oilprice.com/topic/26279-interactive-map-crude-oil-pipelines-and-refineries-of-the-us-and-canada-click-the-link/

 

[Ron Wagner + 706]

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-global-happiness-levels-in-2022/