Russia’s natural gas heading west of the Yamal-Europe pipeline stopped on March 4, due to high levels of bids for additional transportation capacity via Ukraine by Gazprom, according to data from gascade pipeline operators. ..
The Yamal pipeline between Poland and Germany accounts for about 15 percent of Russia’s gas to Europe and Turkey.
The 2,000 km (1,242 mile) pipeline from Torzhok in Russia to Frankfurt Andea Oder in Germany can carry approximately 33 billion cubic meters per year, or 100 million cubic meters (MCM) of gas per day.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom has recently been intermittently sending gas to the west via links amid high demand in Europe.
Conflicts in Ukraine increase the risk of this route day by day.
High energy demand amid volatile Russian gas supply and economic recovery from a pandemic has led to higher gas prices on the continent.
The cold weather in Europe is expected to last for at least another week, forcing consumers in the region to order more gas from Russia, despite EU sanctions.
The sharp drop in wind power this winter and the closure of the German nuclear power plant have another impact on Europe’s energy supply.
Another factor contributing to energy market tensions is uncertainty about Russia’s coal transport to Europe.
Gazprom has also increased its supply to Europe via Ukraine. This is another important route that meets customer demands.
Since December 21, the pipeline Germany-Poland, as Polish buyers have used supplies from Germany to boost European gas prices, rather than buying more Russian gas at high spot prices. The section is running eastward on the contrary.
Gazprom resumed westward natural gas supply from Poland to Germany on March 3, after the pipeline stopped flowing early that same day and was expected to continue until the morning of March 4.
The flow from Poland to Germany in the pipeline was 5.9 million kWh (kWh / h), but after Gazprom booked a day’s capacity at the auction, re-nominations or preliminary bids by March 4 were 19.3 million. It was kWh / h.
Gazprom then booked the Yamal-Europe pipeline capacity from March 4th to March 5th, with a capacity of 800,000 cubic meters of gas per hour, or 7.8 million kWh / h of gas, through the pipeline. I pumped it up.
Gas to Germany via the Mallnow weighing point was about 101,119 kWh / h on the morning of March 4, and about 13.5 million kWh / h overnight.
However, the backflow nominations from Germany to Poland were about the same, and two nearly identical nominations in the opposite direction were carried out, resulting in a physical gas flow stop.
According to night data on the GSA platform, the Russian energy company booked an additional 1 MCM capacity from 10 pm to the morning of March 4.
Orders totaled 46% of all available Yamal-Europe pipeline capacity booked.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue to supply gas to the global market, ignoring Western sanctions on Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia accounts for about 40% of Europe’s gas demand and is also a major oil supplier.
Despite tensions with the Kremlin over Ukraine, there was little effort from European countries to break the energy ties, except that Germany canceled the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Brian S. Jung is from New York City and is a resident with a background in the political and legal industry. He graduated from Binghamton University.