Turbines needed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany were caught up in Canadian sanctions imposed on Moscow, causing a sharp drop in Russia’s main pipeline flow and European natural gas prices on Tuesday. Contributed to the soaring price of.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said on Twitter On Tuesday, the turbines sent for repair were not returned “on time”, reducing the amount sent to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline by about 40%. He said it would not be possible to supply the full amount of gas normally sent to Germany without machines.
Siemens Energy, a manufacturer of turbines based in Munich, has largely confirmed the description of Gazprom. In a statement, he overhauled the machine at a specialized facility in Montreal, but said it was “currently impossible” to return to Gazprom “due to Canadian sanctions.”
Siemens Energy has informed the Government of Canada and Germany of the situation and said it is “working on a viable solution.”
snafu raised the price of natural gas futures by 16% on the Dutch TTF exchange to around € 97 per megawatt hour. That’s less than half the highs reached in March, when Moscow was at risk of a cutoff, but it’s still about five times the price a year ago.
Freeport LNG, Texas’s major liquefied natural gas export facility, puts further upward pressure on prices and is much longer than originally expected by the time it returns to partial operation after the June 8 fire. He said it would take 90 days on Tuesday. In recent months, Freeport LNG has been a major exporter of natural gas to Europe and elsewhere, helping to alleviate supply shortages.
The two events seemed to pose little imminent threat to Germany and Europe running out of fuel quickly. Summer is a season when demand for gas used for heating is relatively low, and Europe is rapidly increasing its inventories in preparation for next winter.
“There are no imminent supply problems,” said Henning Groystein, director of energy, climate and resources for the Eurasia Group, a political risk company.
And in a tweet on Tuesday, the German ministry responsible for energy said that the safety of natural gas supply “Guarantee that does not change.”
However, as the war in Ukraine intensifies and Russia remains a major gas supplier to Europe, interruptions quickly lead to market turmoil.
With the support of the European Union, Europe has been rapidly increasing its gas reserves since last summer, hoping to avoid the fear of shortages and cutoffs by Russia, which has pushed prices to astronomical levels. ..
The European Union’s gas storage facilities are about 52% full, 10% better than the same period last year. Over the last few weeks, Europe has been importing surplus gas from Russia and elsewhere through pipelines and shipping liquefied natural gas from the United States and other suppliers.
Now, Groystein questioned whether the fire at the Texas facility and Gazprom’s actions at Nord Stream would continue to fill storage rapidly, saying, “A more serious price surge next winter. Even a supply shortage will lead to new concerns.
Christopher F. Schutze Report that contributed.