Flaring Finland – Gazprom burns gas instead of supplying it to the EU

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Russian gas company Gazprom has stopped supplying gas to several European countries and supplies to other customers have recently been severely curtailed. Gazprom declares this as “force majeure”, from the EU’s point of view there is no reasonable reason to stick to the reduced delivery quantities. However, the Russian state-owned company apparently flares excess natural gas on an industrial scale rather than supplying it to Europe through pipelines.

For a month and a half, a huge flare has been burning near the Portovaya compressor station on the Russian-Finnish border, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported, citing eyewitnesses and NASA data. The plume first appeared on June 17, three days after the pipeline’s flow was cut by 40 percent and then by another third.

Torch has been burning continuously for a month and a half
According to “Yle”, the torch at the Gulf of Finland has been burning every day since then and no other fires have been observed near the station. This speaks for the flaring – the controlled destruction by combustion – of natural gas. The reason for this is unclear: such flaring is used differently when further transport of the gas is not technically possible or economically uninteresting. Technical problems or a malfunction can be the cause. However, from a European point of view, there are no good reasons to flare Russian gas off the Finnish border.

Gazprom currently pumps only 20 percent of its capacity through the Nord Stream pipeline. This is further justified by the lack of that infamous turbine, which was repaired in Canada and is now temporarily stored in Germany. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently emphasized that the pipeline had “significant capacities”. So there is no shortage of opportunities to comply with all the treaties that Russia has concluded for the whole of Europe.

Are there more documents missing?
The Kremlin confirmed its view on the matter on Wednesday: According to this information, important documents and information for repairs have not been sent. The responsible energy technology group Siemens Energy, based in Mühlheim, Germany, where the turbine is currently stored, rejects these allegations.

It has to be delivered where the gas is now burned: to the Portovaya compressor station as the central point for the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. Here, such turbines drive compressors that build up the pressure necessary for gas transport through the pipeline.

Russia is dependent on exports
Gazprom is currently supplying Europe with the smallest amounts of gas in history, according to an analysis by economists at Yale University. The EU fears a gas freeze that would lead to a severe recession. Russia uses gas as part of its war strategy, but this could cut itself: According to Yale economists, Russian natural gas only accounts for 35 percent of the total European market. Russia, on the other hand, sells 83 percent of its gas exports to Europe.

Source: Krone

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