Natural gas flows from Russia to Europe via Ukraine continued on Thursday despite clashes at the Russia-Ukraine border near the only gas metering station that still sends Russian gas west to Europe.
Unconfirmed reports emerged on Wednesday that Ukraine had seized Sudzha gas metering station in the Russian region of Kursk, a theater of heavy clashes in recent hours after Ukrainian troops crossed into Russian territory with tanks and armored vehicles earlier this week.
The Ukrainian ground assault on Russian regions across the border continued on Wednesday for their second day, forcing Russia to evacuate residents from the Kursk region, sparking a backlash against President Vladimir Putin for failing to thwart the attacks.
Reports of Ukrainian troops seizing the Sudzha gas transfer and measuring stations in the Kursk region of Russia have not been confirmed.
After the Sokhranivka entry point for Russian gas transit via Ukraine was closed, Gazprom had to divert all the gas it can send to the Sudzha entry point.
Russian gas deliveries to Europe have fallen off a cliff since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but some European customers in central Europe – including Slovakia and Austria – continue to receive Russian gas via the route through Ukraine and a pipeline via Turkey.
On Thursday, gas transit at Sudzha for delivery west to Europe continued.
“Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine in the volume confirmed by the Ukrainian side through the Sudzha gas metering station – 37.3 million cubic meters(1.3 billion cubic feet) as of Aug. 8,” Gazprom representative Sergei Kupriyanov said, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax.
Data from European information platform ENTSOG also shows that the flow of natural gas leaving Ukraine for the EU remains uninterrupted.
Due to concerns about the flows of Russian gas to its few remaining customers in Europe, the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, surged by 5% on Wednesday to their highest level so far in 2024 and were rising by 3.5% as of 1:23 p.m. in Amsterdam on Thursday.
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By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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