MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Yamal-Europe pipeline that usually delivers Russian gas to Western Europe was sending fuel back to Poland for an eleventh day on Friday, data from German network operator Gascade shows.
Flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border were going east into Poland at an hourly volume of more than 1.2 million kilowatt hours (kWh/h) on Friday morning, the data shows, broadly unchanged for the past 24 hours.
The pipeline is a major route for Russian gas exports to Europe.
Auction results also showed Russian gas exporter Gazprom has not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Germany was reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine rather than relieving an overheated market, putting blame for the reversal, and rocketing prices, on German gas importers.
The German Economy Ministry has declined comment on Putin’s remark. Gas importers have not responded to Reuters requests for comment.
Gas traders are relying on stockpiles to supply European buyers and avoid paying near record-high prices, industry sources and market analysts said, explaining the unusual reverse in direction of flows through the pipeline.
Data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed capacity nominations for Friday’s Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point, another major route for Russian gas to Europe, rose to 953,087 megawatt hours (MWh) from Thursday’s 891,692, marking the fourth day of growth in a row and reaching the level seen in December 1-20 period.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Robert Muller; Editing by Louise Heavens)
