Ukraine suspends part of Russian gas transit to Europe
The reason is that Russian troops, which now control the Novopskov compressor station in the Luhansk region, through which nearly a third of Russia’s gas exports to Europe through Ukraine, would redirect the gas to other consumers in the separatist region. The accusation could not be independently confirmed, and Gazprom claims that there is no impediment to the normal continuation of gas traffic.
Ukrainian company GTSOU, which operates Ukraine’s gas system, has said it will stop transport on Sokranivka route on Wednesday (May 11th), citing a case of “force majeure”, or a clause invoked when a business is hit by something that does not takes care. it can be controlled, Reuters reports.
The company said it could not operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to “interference by occupation forces in technical processes”, adding that it could temporarily move the affected stream to the Sudja physical interconnection point on Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The suspension of Russian natural gas flows to Ukraine on the Sokranivka route should not have an impact on the Ukrainian domestic market, he told Reuters head of the state energy company Naftogaz Yuri Vitrenko.
Russian monopoly Gazprom said on Wednesday it had received a notification from Ukraine that gas transit to Europe via the Sokhranivka interconnection would be stopped in the morning.
Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports through driving, says it is “technically impossible” for all traffic to be moved to the Sudja interconnection point further west, as proposed by GTSOU. This interconnection point is located in the territory controlled by Ukrainian troops.
Gazprom added that it is fulfilling all its obligations to gas buyers in Europe.
Moldovagaz said it had not received any notification from GTSOU or Gazprom that deliveries would be discontinued.
“SA Moldovagaz has not received official notifications from Gazprom and OGTS of Ukraine regarding the restriction of the supply of natural gas at the intersection gas transmission points of Alekseevka and Grebeniki. Gas deliveries to the Republic of Moldova are carried out on a regular basis. As head of JSC “Moldovagaz”, I will continue to inform consumers and other stakeholders about the evolution of these situations. “, Vadim Ceban was quoted as saying by local media.
The United States has called on allies, first in the European Union, to reduce their dependence on Russian energy. At the same time, they banned energy imports from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
In the case of the USA, this embargo is easy to impose because it imports insignificant amounts of energy from Russia.
The situation in the Union is much more complicated: for the time being, EU countries should impose a gradual embargo on Russian oil imports, but they are faced with a choice of many countries, first and foremost Hungary, which is asking for such large derogations. itself would lose all efficiency.
A gas embargo is not even discussed yet – in this regard, Germany and Italy, but also Austria or Hungary are the countries that say they need more time to diversify their sources.