Transit of Russian gas through Ukraine remains at the same level

MOSCOW, 20 Sep — PRIME. Deliveries of Russian natural gas through the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS) remain at the same levels, continuing to flow through only one gas measuring (GIS) station, according to data from the GTS Operator of Ukraine.

Thus, the application for pumping through the GIS “Sudzha” for September 20 is 42.4 million cubic meters. The indicator has been holding at the level of 40-43 million since the end of May. Deliveries through the GIS “Sokhanovka” are not conducted, as Ukraine rejects the application of “Gazprom”.

At the same time, since the end of August, the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been suspended, since during scheduled maintenance, malfunctions were identified at the only operating unit of the Portovaya station. As Gazprom reported, the German Siemens examined the problems and expressed its readiness to eliminate them, but because of the Western sanctions, there is nowhere to do this.

As a result, as Rystad Energy, an analytical company, reported, Gazprom’s total exports to Europe (including Turkish Stream) fell to 70-80 million cubic meters per day, that is, at times compared to September last year, when the figure was about 380 million cubic meters daily. And the current share of Russia in EU gas imports has fallen to less than 10%, experts estimate.

At the same time, the European Union continues to fill underground gas storage facilities (UGS), according to the information of the Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators of Europe (Gas Infrastructure Europe, GIE). As of the end of the gas day on September 18 (ended at 07:00 Moscow time on September 19), European UGSFs were 85.99% full, with a daily increase of 0.33 percentage points (0.37 percentage points on average in August).

The target threshold of 80%, which had to be reached by November 1, has already been overcome by 14 of the 18 EU countries that have UGS facilities. At the same time, there are 27 states in the EU, and gas storages usually provide 25-30% of the gas consumed in Europe in winter, it was reported in the materials of the European Commission in summer. Even close to the maximum reserves in UGSFs of large EU countries do not guarantee a reliable passage of the autumn-winter period, Gazprom believes.