Wind forecast to drop in Europe, importers requesting more Russian gas

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - Europe can expect at least a week and a half of light winds and even still weather at the end of April, meaning wind farms will be generating less electricity and the use of gas as a standby fuel will grow, and with it prices.

European importers are already requesting more gas from Russia's Gazprom .

"Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine in regular mode in accordance with the bookings of European consumers at 68.4 million cubic meters on April 25," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.

According to Gas Transmission System (GTS) Operator of Ukraine data, the nomination for April 25 is 68.4 million cubic meters, while bookings for April 24 totaled 53 million cubic meters.

Wind farms generated 17% of the European Union's electricity in the week April 18-24, up from 13% the previous week, according to data from the WindEurope association. However the wind is expected to drop as early as Monday evening.

Gas actually flowing via the Yamal-Europe pipeline between Germany and Poland has been continuously pumping in reverse mode since April 7. On Monday, the reverse flow of gas from Germany to Poland was again 700,000 cubic meters per hour, according to data from the gas transport operator, Gascade. Off-take of additional volumes of gas from the main European hubs instead of direct imports is another component of the current high gas prices in the European Union.

Europe has launched its underground gas storage injection season. The current stock level is 30.1%, an increase of 0.34 percentage points over the past day. The current level of stocks in the UGS facilities in Europe is 6.5 percentage points behind the five-year average. High prices for imported gas are curbing injections in April.

The Russian president has by decree introduced a new procedure for paying for Russian gas supplies as of April that stipulates the currencies in which contracts are priced by converted into rubles through Gazprombank .