Gas flows eastward via Russian Yamal pipeline for 17th day

Refinitiv analysts said the rise in volumes via Mallnow reflected an additional capacity of 147GWh/d, equivalent to 6.125 million kWh/h, bought at auction on Wednesday. Capacity nominations from Ukraine to Slovakia at the Velke Kapusany border point, another major route for Russian gas to Europe, were at 288,635 MWh, steady with levels seen since Monday.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline, which usually sends Russian gas west into Europe, was flowing east from Germany to Poland for a 17th successive day, with flows rising sharply early on Thursday, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

Eastbound volumes stood at 7.5 million kilowatt hours an hour (kWh/h), up from 1.7 million on Wednesday evening and just over 1 million overnight, data from the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border showed. European gas prices have risen on Yamal's reverse flow, which has sparked concerns about winter supply in Europe, and on political tensions.

Thursday's higher volumes dashed hopes sparked a day earlier when volumes fell that Yamal might be set to resume westbound deliveries. Refinitiv analysts said the rise in volumes via Mallnow reflected an additional capacity of 147GWh/d, equivalent to 6.125 million kWh/h, bought at auction on Wednesday.

Capacity nominations from Ukraine to Slovakia at the Velke Kapusany border point, another major route for Russian gas to Europe, were at 288,635 MWh, steady with levels seen since Monday. But they were less than half of levels seen in the final weeks of 2021.

European prices soared by more than 30% on Tuesday when operators returned after the New Year break facing concerns about low supplies in winter. The volatile gas market environment has prompted German utility Uniper to secure credit facilities worth up to 10 billion euros ($11.30 billion) from Finnish parent Fortum and state bank KfW in a precautionary move.

Sector peers RWE and Enel said they were prepared to deal with possibly high security payments. Rystad analysts in a research note said weather forecasts suggest European temperatures will trend at normal levels in the coming weeks, a downward revision from previous forecasts for warmer than average weather.

Price reaction in the wholesale market was muted. Dutch TTF gas for February traded up 60 euro cents to 97.10 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 0820 GMT.

($1 = 0.8850 euros)

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