Europe begins gas offtake from UGS facilities week sooner than last year; Gazprom requests 42.4 mcm for transit via Ukraine
MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) - Europe has officially begun the heating season by extracting gas from the region's underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, with reserves declining for the first time by a symbolic 0.02 percentage points on the gas day of November 7, and the weather forecast calls for an ongoing steady decrease in temperatures, implying offtake should continue and intensify.
Transitioning from injection to offtake occurred when the UGS facilities were at 99.62% capacity, which was the highest level in the history of observations, Gas Infrastructure Europe reports. However, offtake this year did not begin at the very latest moment, as the UGS facilities were tapped on November 14 in 2022.
Nevertheless, this is a relatively late date for Europe to begin tapping into its reserves, having done so toward the end of October in previous years. Europe is trying to save fuel and its reserves after refusing a significant part of Russian supplies.
UKRAINIAN TRANSIT
The Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Gazprom today to transport 42.4 million cubic meters of gas through the country, and the figure was 42.4 mcm yesterday, data from the GTSOU show.
The published nomination is technically the maximum possible flow in this direction, given all of the restrictions imposed by the Ukrainian side.
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 42.4 mcm on November 9, with booking via the Sokhranovka metering station declined," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.
The 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 turbines provided an average of 23% of the region's electricity needs yesterday, holding slightly above the usual percentage for this time of year, with the figure having been 19% in November 2022 and 20% in October 2023, according to WindEurope.
The day-ahead contract at the Dutch TTF gas hub in the Netherlands closed at $483 per thousand cubic meters, with the spot price having risen 2% yesterday.
There is a noticeable split between LNG prices in Asia and those in Europe. In Asia, the most expensive futures contract for December on the JKM Platts index is $617 per thousand cubic meters, and futures under the LNG North-West Europe Marker are $539 per thousand cubic meters.
EUROPEAN INVENTORIES
The level of natural gas reserves in Europe has become a key indicator for the global market, with the region overall continuing to pump gas into UGS facilities.
Current inventory levels in Europe's UGS facilities are 99.62%, which is 10 percentage points above the average for the same date over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
Inventories dipped 0.02 percentage point during the gas day for November 7.
European LNG terminals operated at an average capacity of 52% in October, and they have averaged 56% since the beginning of November.
U.S. INVENTORIES
The state of reserves in UGS facilities in the United States is of increasing importance for the global market, as the country is actively increasing gas exports.
The U.S. continues the season for injecting gas into UGS facilities. Inventories rose 2.2 billion cubic meters for the latest reporting week, which is 33.3% higher than the standard volume for this time of the year.
The current level of inventories is 79%, which is 6 percentage points higher than the average figure for the past five years, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.