Moldovan state company Energocom will buy 10 million cubic meters of natural gas for $16.6 million from Moldovagaz, which gets gas from Russia’s Gazprom, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Andrei Spinu said on his Telegram channel, citing a decision made by the country’s National Commission for Emergency Situations.
“This transaction will also enable Moldovagaz to pay the advance for August by September 1,” Spinu said.
It was reported earlier that the the National Commission for Emergency Situations, which is chaired by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, had ordered state company Energocom to buy 10 mcm of natural gas for storage in Romania.
The gas will be purchased and delivered under a framework EFET (European Federation of Energy Traders) type purchase-sale contract between Energocom and Moldovagaz, the government’s press service told Interfax.
For the first tranche of 5 mcm, the purchase price will be about $1,459 per 1,000 cubic meters. The second tranche of the gas purchase will be made in September at a price of $1,881 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The gas will be stored in neighboring Romania, as Moldova does not have its own gas storage facilities.
Moldovagaz was unable to pay an advance to Gazprom for supplies in August and the Russian company agreed to defer the payment to September 1. Moldovagaz said that current gas rates in the country do not cover its purchase price.
The commission also decided to allocate MDL 322 million from the state budget to increase Energocom’s charter capital.
The spot price of gas in Europe soared above $2,700/ths. cube m for the news about the new repair on the Nord Stream highway.
The price of the nearest (September) TTF futures on the ICE Futures exchange on Friday evening reached $2,712 per thousand cubic meters.
On Friday evening, Gazprom announced that the only working gas-compressor unit of the Nord Stream main’s departure compressor station at the Portovaya CS would be shut down from August 31 to September 2 for three days for maintenance and scheduled preventive work.
The gas pipeline is capable of transporting up to 167 million cubic meters per day. m of gas, but the capacity was reduced due to the violation of the maintenance schedule for the equipment of the starting station of the sea main – the compressor station “Portovaya”. It is equipped with gas compressor units from Rolls-Royce, whose gas turbine business has been taken over by Siemens. Due to Canadian sanctions imposed in response to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, one turbine did not return to Russia from the Siemens Energy repair base on time. In the meantime, the time has come for a major overhaul of other engines, both in connection with the operating time between overhauls and in connection with breakdowns.
Ukraine plans to produce 18.5 billion cubic meters in 2022. meters of gas, which is 6.6% (1.3 billion cubic meters) less than in 2021, said Deputy Energy Minister Nikolai Kolesnik.
“Based on the volume of actual production that is today, the forecast volume for this year is approximately 18.5 billion cubic meters. This is without taking into account potential losses,” he said in Kyiv on Thursday.
Kolesnik specified that today the daily gas production in the country is 49.5 million cubic meters. m, while before the start of the war it was about 55 million cubic meters. m. At the same time, companies are not yet able to fully carry out new drilling and workover of wells, but only maintain the maintenance of the existing said fund. This is due to the use of equipment that from the air can look like a military one.
According to him, the gas consumption forecast for 2022 is about 21 billion cubic meters. The Deputy Minister clarified that this forecast is based on the consumption profile of previous years, while in the conditions of war and the resettlement of people it is difficult to say exactly what consumption will be.
As reported, natural gas production in Ukraine in 2021 amounted to 19.8 billion cubic meters. m, incl. private companies – 5 billion cubic meters. m.
German Vice-Chancellor, Minister for Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habeck called the situation with gas supplies in the country “serious” and called for a reduction in its consumption by 15-20%.
On the air of the ARD TV channel, referring to Gazprom’s announcement of a further reduction in fuel supplies from July 27, he said that “we must be prepared for this,” and “this is a serious situation.”
Habek noted that Germany will continue to receive gas from the Netherlands and Norway, “we will be able to continue to fill the storage, but how quickly and in what volumes,” it will be clear later. He added that “we will not have gas in abundance.”
The minister called for a 15-20% reduction in gas consumption to avoid that “certain production chains simply cease to exist in Germany or Europe.”
The official promised that in the event of a shortage of gas, industrial sectors would be the first to suffer, while measures would be taken to provide residential buildings and infrastructure such as hospitals.
In an interview with DPA, Habek said he sees no “technical reasons” for Gazprom’s cuts in supplies.
As previously reported by Gazprom, gas pumping through Nord Stream will be reduced to one-fifth of its capacity from Wednesday.
The application for the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine remains at the level of the previous days and months.
Europe has been without Nord Stream gas for the second day.
The energy deficit was aggravated by a two-fold drop in electricity production due to wind.
TRANSIT THROUGH UKRAINE
“Operator GTS Ukrainy” accepted from “Gazprom” an application for gas transit for Tuesday in the amount of 41.2 million cubic meters. m, evidenced by OGTSU data. The indicator on Monday was 41.1 million cubic meters. m. Powers are declared only at one of the two points of entry into the Ukrainian GTS – the Suzha gas measuring station. The application was not accepted for the corridor through the Sokhranovka GIS.
OGTSU announced a force majeure for the acceptance of gas for transit through the GIS station “Sochranovka”, referring to the fact that it cannot carry out operational and technological control over the compressor station “Novopskov”.
Kyiv offered to transfer transit volumes from “Sochranovka” to GIS “Suja”, but “Gazprom” stated that this was technologically impossible.
At the same time, Ukraine insists that payment should still be made on the basis of the estimated volume of transportation of the long-term contract of 109 million cubic meters. m per day according to the “download or pay” rule. “Naftogaz” claims that it is now not receiving payment for transit and is preparing to apply to arbitration.
EUROPEAN MARKET
At the beginning of the new week, the production of electricity due to wind in Europe fell to 7.6% of the energy balance in the EU, while the average indicator for the past week was 15%, according to data from the WindEurope association.
Europe continues to pump gas into underground storage facilities. At the moment, the reserves are about 62.08%, according to data from the Gas Infrastructure Europe association. The increase over the last day was 0.46 percentage points. The current level of reserves in the UGC of Europe lags behind the five-year average by 1.24 percentage points. Since this year, the EU has introduced strict regulation of the use of underground storage facilities. By the beginning of the selection season in 2022, the reserves should be at least 80% of the capacity of the UHP, and 90% thereafter.
European terminals for receiving LNG in July are operating at an average capacity of 63% of their capacity, which is equal to the June indicator. For now, the region remains a premium market for LNG, as prices in Asia are slightly lower than European hubs.
Spot prices for gas in Europe against the background of the Nord Stream repair shutdown are at the level of $1,690 per thousand cubic meters. In Asia, prices are noticeably lower – the August futures on the JKM Platts index (Japan Korea Marker – reflects the spot market value of cargo delivered to Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan) is trading at $1,390.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Chuque said that after the commissioning of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector on Thursday, his country will be able to supply natural gas to Moldova and Ukraine, European Pravda reports with reference to the Romanian news portal Digi24.
“Essentially, this interconnector will connect the network passing through Anatolia and the Adriatic, as well as connect to the BRUA pipeline, thus ensuring gas supplies to Bulgaria and Romania,” Chuquet said at a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“And, of course, we can provide gas supplies to our eastern partners – Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and other countries according to the distribution scheme of this gas network,” the Romanian prime minister added.
COMMISSIONING, GAS, GREECE-BULGARIA, INTERCONNECTOR, MOLDOVA, ROMANIA, UKRAINE
