Wind generation in Europe drops, Gazprom requests 41.7 mcm gas transit vis Ukraine
MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - Wind power generation in Europe is returning to its previous lows after rising slightly on a change in the weather.
UKRAINE TRANSIT
Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Russia's Gazprom today to transport 41.7 million cubic meters of gas through the country, as on Wednesday, 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 Sokhranovka 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 41.7 mcm on June 29, with booking via the Sokhranovka metering station declined," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.
GTSOU has declared a force majeure with respect to acceptance of gas for transit through Sokhranovka, claiming that it cannot control the Novopskov compressor station. The route through Sokhranovka had provided transit of more than 30 mcm of gas per day. Gazprom believes that there are no grounds for the force majeure or obstacles to continuing operations as before.
EUROPEAN MARKET
Wind power generation in Europe is returning to its previous extremely low levels after rising slightly on a change in the weather. Wind turbines have generated 10% of Europe's electricity this month, down from 11% in June 2022.
The spot price for gas in Europe corrected by 2% on Wednesday. The latest day-ahead contract at the Dutch TTF gas hub in the Netherlands closed at $389 per thousand cubic meters.
The spread between LNG prices in Asia and those in Europe is noticeable. In Asia, the most expensive futures contract for August on the JKM Platts index is $429 per thousand cubic meters, and futures under the LNG North-West Europe Marker are $378 per thousand cubic meters.
EUROPEAN INVENTORIES
Europe continues to pump gas into storage. Current inventory levels in Europe's underground gas storage facilities are 76.66%, which is 16 percentage points above the average for the same date over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
Inventories rose 0.22 percentage points during the June 27 gas day. Injection rates are still markedly less than the five-year average, but it will be possible to achieve the target level of 90% by the end of September if these rates are sustained throughout the summer.
Gazprom has nevertheless cautioned that "replenishing gas reserves in storage facilities could be a non-trivial task for European companies. This will be very difficult to do, given the politically motivated decisions aimed at refusing to import Russian pipeline gas. Competition for LNG will have a big effect on the volumes of gas available on the European market."
European LNG terminals operated at 64% capacity in May and since the start of June.
U.S. INVENTORIES
Gas inventories in UGS facilities in the United States are of increasing importance for the global market, as the country is actively increasing gas exports. Freeport LNG, the largest U.S. LNG plant, has restarted all three liquefaction trains, thereby reducing the gas surplus on the U.S. market and boosting LNG supply to the global market
The U.S. gas injection season continues. Inventories increased 2.7 billion cubic meters for the latest reporting week, which is just above the norm for this time of year.
The current level of inventories is 57%, which is 15 percentage points above the five-year average, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.