It is not yet known how long this situation will last, Reuters reported. None of the Russian – state-controlled – Gazprom has commented yet.
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Gas supplies from Russia are being closely monitored in a situation where the prices of this raw material in Europe have risen sharply. Several factors are to blame, especially the higher demand for the pandemic and low stocks.
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Gazprom: We always abide by contractual obligations
The International Energy Agency (IEA) and some MEPs accuse Gazprom of not doing enough to increase supplies to Europe.
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However, the Russian gas giant claims that it always complies with its contractual obligations, which is also confirmed by its customers in southern and western Europe. They did not order any additional gas supplies from Gazprom at the time of the highest price increase, as the October Reuters survey showed.
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The Jamal gas pipeline brings Russian gas through Belarusian and Polish territories to Germany. Its capacity is up to 33 billion meters per year. Last year, the agreement between Russia and Poland on the transit of raw materials expired, but Gazprom can order transmission capacity at auctions.
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However, a few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an increase in gas supplies to Europe – from November. The state-owned company Gazprom is to start with them when it fills domestic underground storage tanks, the TASS agency informed.
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Rising gas prices
In any case, the price of natural gas for the European market rose sharply at the beginning of October, in two days by almost 60 percent over 160 euros (then 4070 CZK) per megawatt-hour (MWh). Then it started to decline, but it is still very high compared to last year.
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The contract for the supply of gas in December on Friday afternoon was around 66.10 euros (1695 CZK) per MWh, data show for the virtual trading node Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands, which is decisive for prices on the European market. A year ago, the price was around 15 euros (382 CZK) per MWh.
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In response to the sharp rise in gas prices, several suppliers have already ceased operations, in the Czech Republic this applies, for example, to Bohemia Energy, which had almost a million customers. In Britain, several distribution companies went bankrupt, and companies in Germany also have problems.
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