MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/: Gas transit via the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Russia through Belarus and Poland to Germany has been brought down to zero on Tuesday. According to the results of the previous auction, the Polish section of the pipe was booked only by 3.7% on Tuesday. This is according to the data of operators of European gas pipelines.
According to the Gascade company, gas supplies at the Malnov point on the Polish-German border began to decline gradually over the weekend and reached zero at 08:00-09:00 am on Tuesday. Prior to this, at 06:00-07:00 am, the supply volume was 272.190 kWh (about 25,800 cubic meters), which is less than 1% of the nomination volume. Late on Monday, 11.231 mln kWh (a little over 1 mln cubic meters) were delivered through the pipe, which is 85 times lower than the nomination. On average, since the beginning of the month, supply volume ranged from 440-750 mln kWh.
The long-term Russian-Polish agreement on gas transit from Russia to the West through the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline expired on May 17.
Deliveries are now carried out on the basis of daily auctions the Polish pipeline’s capacity conducted by Gaz-System, which is the operator of the Polish gas transmission network.
According to the information posted on the auction platform of the company, on Tuesday morning only 3.7% of the pipeline's capacity (Polish section) was reserved at the auction. At the same time, the volume of gas deliveries from Russia to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline, judging by the data of the gas pipeline operator, has not increased.
As experts previously noted, after the expiration of the long-term contract, the Polish route can be used to balance gas supplies to Europe. Having reduced the pumping through Yamal-Europe during a period of weak demand in the region, Gazprom may load the Nord Stream or Ukrainian route, the capacities of which have already been paid.
At an auction in May, the capacity of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline following was reserved by approximately 93% for June. Earlier, in a similar way, gas pipeline capacities were reserved for the third quarter of 2020. According to Iwona Dominiak, Gaz-System spokeswoman, about 80% of the gas pipeline’s available capacity was booked at the auction. Although the operator’s representative refused to name the bidders, experts agree that Gazprom was and will be the only bidder in such auctions.
About route
The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline has the capacity of about 33 bln cubic meters of gas per year and is stretched over territories of Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.
Currently, EuRoPol GAZ, a joint venture of Gazprom and the Polish PGNiG, owns the Polish section of the pipeline. At the same time, Gaz-System is the operator of the pipe section, as well as of the entire gas transmission system in Poland.
