Ukraine suspends gas flow through one of its gas pipelines due to “force majeure”

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The liquid reduction in Sojranovka presupposes the interruption of the supply of almost a third of the fuel destined for the EU

Ukrainian operator GTS (OGTSU-Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine) confirmed on Wednesday that the flow of Russian gas on its way to Europe via the Sojranovka route has been interrupted, demonstrating that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is exacerbating the already acute energy crisis in Europe. due to high fuel prices. In a new press release, OGTSU assured that Russian energy giant “Gazprom has turned off the tap, has stopped supplying gas to the Sojranovka transit station.”

According to the Ukrainian operator, Russia is diverting that gas “to the breakaway republics in the east” of Ukraine. On Tuesday, OGTSU announced that due to “force majeure” the Sojranovka monitoring station and the Novopskov border station, both located in the Lugansk region, were no longer operational. This transit pipeline is vital as it supplies almost a third of the fuel to the European Union.

The OGTSU information underlined that the circumstance of “force majeure” is due to the fact that “as a result of Russia’s military aggression, Ukraine is unable to exercise operational and technological control over Novopskov Station and other facilities that are in territory not controlled by Kiev’.

“Russian interference in technological processes and unauthorized gas extraction have endangered the stability and security of operations of the entire Ukrainian gas transmission system,” the company stressed. OGTSU also clarified that almost a third of the gas (up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day) from Russia to Europe goes through the Novopskov compressor station.

The Ukrainian operator pointed out that for the transit of gas to Europe and “under the terms of the agreement”, it is possible to transfer “temporarily inaccessible capacities to another entry point, that of Sudzha, which is located in the Ukrainian-controlled area.” is (… ) to fully comply with the transit obligations with European partners.

Gazprom responded Tuesday by stressing that there is “no impediment to continuing work in the previous mode” and assuring it had not received “confirmation of force majeure” from Ukraine. “The transfer of gas volumes to the station proposed by Kiev is technologically impossible,” said the information released by the Russian gas company.

However, as Svetlana Zalishuk, one of the chief advisers to the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, told AFP, Russia increased gas volumes through Sudzha by 15% on Wednesday, but according to their calculations it is not “enough” to make up for the fall by Soyranovka. In total, the decrease in gas flow through Ukraine could be 18%, from 88 to 72 million cubic meters compared to Tuesday.

The Russian agency Interfax reported on Wednesday that 24% of the Russian gas transit through Ukraine to Europe previously went through Sojranovka, while 76% of the remaining volume went through Sudzha. On Tuesday, Russia’s defense ministry said separatist forces from the self-declared People’s Republic of Lugansk and the Russian army had managed to breach the defenses of Ukrainian troops near the town of Popásnaya in the Lugansk region.

The German state energy agency said on its website on Wednesday that the volume of Russian gas they received had declined. “Due to the reduced throughput, gas volumes to Germany via Ukraine fell by 25% compared to Tuesday (…), but this is compensated by higher volumes, mainly from Norway and the Netherlands,” the agency said.

In early March, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprinov said the Russian company will “continue to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine on a regular basis, in accordance with European consumers’ requests”. Gas prices in the EU have skyrocketed as a result of last winter’s harsh winter, the lack of supplies from Russia, which is based on the failure to sign contracts on time, and mainly because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In October last year, amid controversy over the final commissioning of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, Gazprom decided to cut gas flow to Hungary through Ukrainian territory in order to divert it through the Turkish gas pipeline. GTSOU then denounced that the supply to Hungary by Ukraine had already been contracted until September 2022.

Source: La Verdad

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