Germany's gas is stopped here - Kyiv turns off the tap

Created: 05/13/2022, 14:56

By: Klaus Rimpel

According to data from the network operator OGTSU, Ukraine is preparing a transit stop for Russian gas through the Luhansk region in the east that has been announced for Wednesday.

© Sergei Chuzavkov/dpa

New concern for Germany's gas supply: Ukraine has stopped part of the Russian gas transit towards Europe!

The authorities calm down.

Kyiv/Berlin/Moscow – The war in Ukraine has had an impact on gas transit through the embattled country for the first time.

The government in Kyiv justified this step by saying that operations at the Sochranivka station in the eastern Luhansk region could no longer be controlled due to the war.

Russians recently disrupted the operation of Sochranivka and the Nowopskow compressor station.

The Ukrainian operator cited a case of force majeure when partially halting transit through the Soyuz pipeline.

Russia's energy giant Gazprom countered that it had received "no confirmation of any force majeure circumstances".

The Ukrainians have been working "undisturbed" in Sochranivka in recent weeks.

Gas supply in Germany stable

The volume of Russian natural gas on the vital Sokhranivka route dropped to zero on Wednesday, data from Ukraine's gas network operator GTSOU showed.

The Russian company Gazprom described a diversion of the gas volume intended for Sochranivka via Russian territory as impossible.

According to Gazprom, the volume of gas routed through Ukraine fell from 95.8 to 72 million cubic meters from the previous day.

The gas supply in Germany is stable and the security of supply is still guaranteed, but emphasized a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics.

The decrease in gas transit through Ukraine is currently being offset by higher gas flows, particularly from Norway and the Netherlands.

The filling levels of the gas storage tanks are currently rising further and are currently at 38.6 percent.

Imminent bottlenecks?

Germany gets gas via Nord Stream 1

"What happens tomorrow or in a week - that's still unclear," said the spokeswoman.

It is not yet possible to draw any conclusions for the future from the current development, and it is also not possible to make predictions about price developments.

Most of the Russian gas reaches Germany anyway via Nord Stream 1.

Ukraine is an important transit country for Russian gas deliveries to Europe.

Even after the Russian invasion on February 24, both sides kept the flow of gas going.

And Ukraine continues to receive money for transit from Russia – most recently around one billion US dollars a year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Russia has always reliably fulfilled its contractual obligations and intends to continue to fulfill them." He did not give a clear answer to the question of whether Russia was now considering alternative transit routes to compensate for the lost volume.

The Russian gas company Gazprom has turned off the gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria.

Russia's justification: the two countries had refused to pay for the deliveries in rubles.

However, energy experts do not believe that Russia will cut off Germany's gas supply.