Page 11 - Euroil Week 21 2020

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil
Russian gas supplies through Poland halted after contract expiry
POLAND
EU rules prevented Poland and Russia from renewing the agreement.
RUSSIAN gas supplies to Europe via Poland have been halted, following the expiry of their long-standing transit agreement.
Data published by German pipeline opera- tor Gascade shows that gas deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Poland across the border to Germany began falling during the weekend and ceased completely on the morning of May 26. They temporarily flowed in the other direction that day.
A gas transit deal between Russia and Poland dating back to the 1990s expired on May 17. Poland is aligning its energy regulations with EU rules, which require operators to auction off access to pipeline capacity and forbid companies from having exclusive rights to that capacity.
The rules allow legacy contracts like the tran- sit agreement between Poland and Russia to con- tinue, but block their renewal.
Polish gas grid operator Gaz-System con- firmed on May 15 it is offering Yamal-Europe’s 33bn cubic metre per year capacity auctions now that the contract has ended.
Russia’s Gazprom will be able to take part in the auctions, but the contract’s expiry comes at a time when the company is cutting supplies to Europe anyway, because of coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns weighing down on demand and high levels of storage. The company has warned that its exports to the continent will slide to 167 bcm this year, down from 199 bcm
in 2019. Ukraine has also reported lower Russian transit volumes this year.
In its statement, Gaz-System said it would offer capacity between May 18 and June 1 on a daily basi, while the entire capacity between June 1 and July 1 was offered in a single auction on May 18.
An auction took place on May 4 for capac- ity between July 1 and October 1, in which 31 GWh/h was booked, amounting to 80%of the capacity available now that the Russian contract has terminated. The remaining capacity in that period will be offered per month in contests on June 15, July 20 and August 17. Any lefto- ver capacity will be awarded as daily or midday products.
Lastly, all available capacity for the gas year starting on October 1 2020 and subsequent years will be offered as an annual product during an auction on July 6.
Poland and Russia’s long-term gas supply deal is also due to run out at the end of 2022, and Warsaw has said it does not want to buy more Russian gas after this point. Poland is developing additional import infrastructure to achieve this, including a pipeline from Norway and an expan- sion in its LNG regasification capacity.
The Polish section of Yamal-Europe is owned by EuRoPol GAZ, a joint venture between Gaz- prom and Poland’s PGNiG, although Gaz-Sys- tem serves as its operator.™
TAP begins testing Albanian flows
ALBANIA
Azeri gas is due to reach Italy in October, but further delays are possible given the COVID-19 pandemic.
THE Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project—the last pipeline link required for Azerbaijan to meet its ambition of exporting natural gas to the Euro- pean Union—has started introducing its first gas into the Albanian section of the pipeline, accord- ing to Azerbaijani media reports.
A 4-km pipeline section running from the Albanian-Greek border to the TAP metering station in Bilisht, southeastern Albania, received the gas on May 20, according to Azertac.
The €4.5bn TAP project will enable gas flows to reach southern Italy via a route that stretches from the Turkish border, across Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea.
It is connected with the Trans-Anatolian
Pipeline (TANAP), which began flowing gas to Turkey in 2018. TANAP in turn receives Azeri gas from the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) which runs all the way from Azerbaijan. Together the three pipelines form the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC).
The latest project update from TAP is that gas from Azerbaijan should reach Italy via its pipeline this October, around six months behind schedule. The schedule could be delayed further because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
TAP’s shareholders are BP (20%), Socar (20%), Snam (20 %), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%).™
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