Despite the scheduled shutdown of the Yamal-Europe and Nord Stream 1 pipelines, as well as the record prices hikes in European gas markets in July, Russia’s Gazprom expressed no interest in Ukraine’s additional transit capacity and started shrinking reserves of its underground gas storage facilities in Europe, the press service of the Gas Transit System Operator of Ukraine (Gas TSO of Ukraine) reported.
Throughout a 10-day period of repairs at Nord Stream 1 in Germany, the EU countries fell short of more than 1.6 billion cubic meters of gas, and another 320 million cubic meters – due to the repair of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.
“In order to compensate Europeans for the shortfall in gas volumes and at the same time not to increase additional transit through Ukraine, Gazprom is shrinking the volume of gas stored in its underground storage facilities (USFs) in Europe. According to GIE data, Gazprom-operated USFs are seeing the lowest reserves in Europe at the moment, are precisely in underground storage facilities controlled by Gazprom,” said Serhiy Makogon, CEO of the Gas TSO of Ukraine.
According to the CEO, today Gazprom’s USF operator in Germany, Astora, has a storage capacity rate of less than 13%, while other operators have an average of 63%. At the same time, USF operators Astora and GSA, located in Austria, have 14%, while others have 48%.
According to the head of Gas TSO of Ukraine, such moves by the Russian company pursue two goals – economic and political. That’s to pump up the price of natural gas and to accelerate the commissioning of Nord Stream 2.
“Gazprom’s behavior has a negative impact on the European gas market and affects the economy of the entire region. In my opinion, the relevant European Antimonopoly Authority should intervene. In addition, such a strategy pursued by the Russian company should be taken into account when certifying Nord Stream 2,” Makogon added. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)