Russian gas transit to Europe via Poland temporarily halted
A gas transit deal between Russia and Poland, dating back to the 1990s, expired on May 17 as Warsaw aligns its energy regulations with European Union rules and curbs its decades-old dependence on Russian fuel.
As a result, flows through the pipeline have stopped, Interfax news agency reported earlier on Tuesday, citing German pipeline operator Gascade.
Poland’s operator Gaz-System has now started to sell pipeline capacity via daily, monthly, quarterly and annual auctions, with two industry sources saying capacity in the daily auctions is the most expensive.
“At the moment the capacity being booked is significantly smaller, but it has been booked constantly since May 17,” Gaz-System said in an e-mailed statement.
It added that with the low levels, there was no need for pumping stations, and therefore the pipeline, to work for the whole day.
Capacity reservations for Sunday and Monday were significantly lower than in the previous periods, the operator said, but auction results show that around 92% of capacity has been booked for June and around 80% for the quarter starting on July 1.
Poland’s minister responsible for gas infrastructure said earlier in May that he would expect Russia to continue sending the same or similar amounts of gas as before the deal expired.
Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Agnieszka Barteczko in Warsaw; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan
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