Page 12 - EurOil Week 27

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Gazprom books 90% of Yamal-

Europe capacity in Poland

POLAND RUSSIA’S Gazprom has booked around 90%, the Russian supplier redirecting transit volumes
or 25.7bn cubic metres, of the westward transit away from Ukraine.
Russia and Poland's capacity of the Polish section of the Yamal-Eu- Under the new ship-or-pay contract between
long-term transit rope pipeline in the year starting October 2020, Ukraine and Russia, Gazprom only has to pay
contract expired in Poland’s gas grid operator Gaz-System has to send 65 bcm of gas to its customers using
May, and since then reported. Ukraine's pipelines, falling to 40 bcm annually
Gaz-System has been Russian gas flows through Poland were halted between 2021 and 2024.
oferring Yamal-Europe's in late May after the expiry of a gas transit deal The remaining 10% of Yamal-Europe’s capac-
capacity in auctions. between the two countries dating back to the ity through Poland will likely be auctioned on a
1990s. Poland is aligning its energy regulations short-term basis, Russia’s Kommersant reported.
with EU rules, which require operators to auc- The tariff at the entry point to Poland is set at
tion off access to pipeline capacity and forbid $3.50 per 1,000 cubic metres, the newspaper
companies from having exclusive rights to that said. Assuming the exit tariff at the German bor-
capacity. der is the same, this will bring Gazprom’s overall
The rules allow legacy contracts such as the transit cost through Poland to $7 per 1,000 cubic
transit agreement between Poland and Rus- metres.
sia to continue, but block their renewal. Since Yamal-Europe carries gas produced in
then Gaz-System has been holding the required Western Siberia all the way from Torzhok,
auctions. running for a total length of 2,000 km. The
“Booking 90% of capacity might partially Polish section of the pipeline is owned by
reflect Gazprom’s expectations of European gas EuRoPol GAZ, a joint venture between
demand recovering to historic levels in 2021,” Gazprom and Poland’s PGNiG, although
VTB Capital (VTBC) wrote in a note on July 7. Gaz-System serves as its operator, managing
But it cautioned that it could also be explained by its capacity. ™

INVESTMENT

RWE, E.ON wrap up $25bn asset swap

GERMANY GERMAN energy giants RWE and E.ON on years of experience, and a strong investment pro-
July 5 said they had closed a $25bn asset swap gramme,” RWE CFO Markus Krebber added.
RWE aims to become launched two years ago – one of the largest ever “This will enable us to strengthen our leading
carbon neutral by transactions in the history of German industry. position in the market even further.”
2040, with the The pair agreed in March 2018 on a complex RWE plans to invest €5bn ($5.6bn) in renew-
takeover of E.ON’s deal on transferring Innogy, which managed able energy in Europe, North America and the
renewables marketing a RWE’s renewables, infrastructure and retail busi- Asia-Pacific region, with €1bn of this amount
key step forward in this nesses, to E.ON. E.ON was then to transfer back earmarked for projects in Germany.
direction. to RWE both Innogy’s and its own renewables E.ON bought a 76.8% stake in Innogy from
assets, as well as Innogy’s gas storage businesses. RWE and then made an offer to its minority
RWE has now received these assets, it shareholders earlier this year before delisting the
announced on July 1. company. The assets RWE has retained include
“This is the day we have been working Innogy’s wind, solar and hydropower opera-
towards for two years. The new RWE has been tions, as well as its biomass, biogas and gas stor-
completed,” RWE CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz age activities. It is also keeping Innogy’s stake in
said. “It is a new, bigger and more diverse com- Austrian power utility Kelag.
pany, with a clear goal.” The European Commission in September last
RWE aims to become carbon neutral by 2040, year cleared E.ON’s purchase of Innogy of anti-
with the takeover of E.ON’s renewables marking trust concerns. But its approval was conditional,
a key step forward in this direction. requiring the company to sell parts of Innogy’s
“We have a wonderful starting point: a huge retail power business in Hungary and its entire
worldwide renewables portfolio, two teams that retail power and gas operation in the Czech
complement each other perfectly with many Republic. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 09•July•2020