Russian gas flows via Yamal-Europe pipeline reversed for 3rd day

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) – The Yamal-Europe pipeline that sends Russian gas to Western Europe was operating in reverse for a third straight day on Thursday, data from German network operator Gascade showed, shipping fuel from Germany to Poland and adding to pressure on the European spot gas market.

European gas prices climbed to a record this week after Yamal switched direction. While the move came amid rising tensions between Moscow and Western countries over Ukraine, Russia said the flow reversal had no political implications.

Two major German customers said Russian gas supplier Gazprom was meeting contractual obligations, without specifying where they were sourcing the fuel. Gazprom has not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Dec. 23, auction results showed on Thursday. read more

The flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border were going east from Germany into Poland at an hourly volume of around 1,180,000 kilowatt hours (kWh/h) on Thursday and were expected to stay at these levels during the day, the data shows.

Separately, data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed capacity nominations for Thursday’s Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point were at 722,667 MWh, down from Wednesday’s 898,385 MWh.

That drop was being balanced by higher nominations for flows from the Czech Republic to Slovakia, meaning nominations for flows from Slovakia to the Austrian hub Baumgarten were roughly stable compared with the previous day.

Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Oksana Kobzeva in Moscow and Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.