3 Oct 2022 13:57

Warmth of Indian summer, strong winds adjust prices in Europe, Gazprom transit request via Ukraine - 41.8 mln cubic meters

MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - The weather this week in Europe will be very comfortable. Temperatures will rise, following the perennial Indian summer seasonal trend.

On Monday, northern Europe will have very windy weather, which will increase the efficiency of wind farms and reduce the overall deficit in the market. By the end of the week, however, the wind will subside.

Gazprom's request for pumping Russian gas through Ukraine has not changed from the previous days and months.

UKRAINIAN TRANSIT

The Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Gazprom today to transport 41.8 million cubic meters of gas through the country against 41.7 mcm the previous gas day, data from GTSOU show.

Capacity was requested only through one of two entry points into Ukraine's Gas Transport System, the Sudzha metering station. A request was not accepted through the Sokhranivka metering station.

"Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine at the volume confirmed by the Ukraine side via the Sudzha metering station at 41.8 mcm on October 3, with booking via the Sokhranivka metering station declined," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.

GTSOU has declared a force majeure with respect to acceptance of gas for transit through Sokhranivka, claiming that it cannot control the Novopskov compressor station. Ukraine has also said that if gas continued to be fed from Russia to the Sokhranivka station, amounts would be reduced accordingly at the exit points from Ukraine's gas transport system. The route through Sokhranivka had provided transit of more than 30 mcm of gas per day.

Gazprom believes there are no grounds for the force majeure or obstacles to continuing operations as before.

EUROPEAN MARKET

After a very cold September, an Indian summer has arrived in Europe on schedule. Mild comfortable weather with variable cloudiness is expected in the region this week.

Wind power generation increased in the region over the weekend (which is especially noticeable against the backdrop of a general decline in consumption over the weekend). Wind turbines accounted for 27.2% of the EU's energy mix on Saturday and 22.4% on Sunday, according to data from WindEurope. On Monday, weather forecasters promise very windy weather, which will also support the contribution of renewables in the region's energy supply. On other days of the week, however, wind will gradually subside.

As usual, spot prices for gas in Europe saw a correction ahead of the weekend. The day-ahead contract at the TTF hub in the Netherlands closed at $11,617 per thousand cubic meters. In Asia, the most expensive winter futures contract for January on the JKM Platts index (Japan Korea Marker; reflects the spot market price for gas delivered to Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan) now stands at $1,663.

The Nord Stream pipeline is completely shut down. The Siemens engines used for its operation are leaking oil, and this malfunction can only be repaired at the factory. This is only possible at the Montreal plant, and Canada has imposed sanctions on Gazprom. In addition, last week there was a depressurization of two strings of Nord Stream 1 and one of Nord Stream 2 near the Danish island of Bornholm.

European liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals are operating at an average of 59% of capacity in September, unchanged from August, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe indicate, and gas has been received from the EemsEnergy LNG floating receiving regasification terminal since September 16 in the Netherlands.

EUROPEAN INVENTORIES

Europe is continuing to inject gas into underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, with the average level of reserves reaching the targeted 80% of capacity at the end of August. After reaching the target level, there has been some reduction in the injection rate.

Inventories in UGS facilities are currently at 88.9%, up 0.25 percentage points from the last reporting date, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data.

Gas inventories in UGS facilities have currently exceeded 80% in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

Meanwhile, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Latvia are lagging, with Austria showing a clear trend toward reaching the target level of reserves by October 2, and Bulgaria and Hungary have also intensified injection, though could be several days late.

The gas reserves at the Incukalns UGS facility in Latvia are the lowest in the EU at around 53%. Pumping is 50% below the European average despite this UGS facility being responsible for reserve gas supplies to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Finland.

U.S. INVENTORIES

The U.S. has boosted injecting gas into storage, households have stopped using air conditioning, and there is no immediate demand for heating, thereby allowing injecting more gas into UGS facilities. UGS are full because Freeport LNG terminal has ceased exports following an accident. Also in September-October, the Cove Point plant with a capacity of 5.25 million tons per year will stop for scheduled repairs for 17 days, the volumes exported through it will also remain on the domestic market. Repairs are also ahead at other LNG plants.

The rate of injection increased during the last reporting week, with 2.9 billion cubic meters accumulated compared to 2.2 bcm on average over the previous reporting weeks. The end of using air conditioning and no heating demand thus far allow the industry to allocate more gas to storage.

The current inventory level is around 74%, which is substantially below the reserves at UGS facilities in Europe, with the EU having topped this level a month-and-a-half ago, and even more so in Russia, which has over 90%.

U.S. UGS gas inventories are now only 6.5% above the minimum for the past five years, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy. The lag from the norm of the average level is 9%.