Gas flow via the Yamal Europe pipeline, which normally travels west from Russia into Europe, was reversed Friday. Low supply to Poland from Germany remained largely unchanged since Monday, according to data from Gascade, the German network operator.
Since Dec. 21, the link between Poland and Germany has been in reverse, putting upward pressure upon European gas prices.
On Friday morning, flows to Poland via Germany’s Mallnow metering points were more than 1.5 Million Kilowatt Hours per hour (kWh/h).
According to the operator, renominations or bids are expected to stay above 1.5 million kWh/h up until Saturday morning.
The pipeline accounts for approximately 15% of Russia’s annual westbound gas supply to Europe and Turkey.
Schroeder, former chancellor of Germany, nominated for the Gazprom board
Gazprom, Russia’s gas export monopoly, has not yet ordered transit capacity for February.
The company also failed to book capacity for the third and fourth quarters of the year, at the quarterly auction that took place on Monday.
The benchmark gas prices in Europe jumped to record levels of 184.95 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), on Dec. 21, when the Yamal Europe system reversed flow.
Russia has been accused by the West of withholding gas in order to increase prices. The West also pressures EU and German regulators for approval of Nord Stream 2, which will double Moscow’s pipelined export capacity via the Baltic Sea.
Russia denies these allegations, and Gazprom claims it fulfils all long-term agreements. They claim that the reversed flow is due to buyers not paying high spot prices for Russian supplies via the pipeline, but instead prefer gas from Germany stored underground or sourced elsewhere.
This has also led to a drop in European storage levels below their average of five years.
Another major route for Russian deliveries into Europe was the supply to Slovakia via Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point. Friday’s capacity nominations fell to 282,761MWh from Thursday. It is the lowest level since Jan. 3 and down from 326.605MWh on Thursday.
This route saw nominations at a record high of 850.143 MWh in February 2022
