Page 17 - RusRPTSept22

Europe needs to invest in extra LNG import capacity which will take many years to come to fruition. There may be difficulties in getting LNG supplies to those countries that are highly dependent on Russian energy and are landlocked, such as Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary.
It is estimated that around 90% of Qatar’s LNG exports (much of which go to Asia) are tied to contracts that, on average, last 17 years and that stipulate that purchased LNG cannot be resold.
Unless Qatar was to relax these terms, the only way that landlocked European nations could secure LNG supplies from Qatar would be for the likes of Germany to purchase LNG on the spot market, import it, regasify it and then send it via pipelines to its ultimate destination.
2.5 Russia cuts off oil exports via Ukraine’s Druzhba pipeline
Russia suspended oil shipments to Europe via Ukraine’s Druzhba pipeline, with its oil transport operator Transneft claiming that its Ukrainian counterpart Ukrtransnafta had been unable to receive transit fees due to Western sanctions.
The disruption in oil flow via the southern leg of Russia’s Druzhba (which means “friendship” in Russian) oil pipeline system that runs through Ukraine will put further pressure on European energy markets, which are already grappling with soaring costs and the risk of fuel shortages. The cut-off will hit the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia hardest, as they rely heavily on imports via the Druzhba pipeline.
Russia has similarly blamed sanctions for disrupting natural gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline, claiming that the measures are preventing the return of equipment sent off for international repair, including a Siemens turbine that remains stuck in transit in Germany.
Transneft said on August 9 that supplies had been halted on August 4, but noted that the suspension had no impact on oil supplies via the northern leg of Druzhba that passes through Belarus to Poland and Germany. Ukrtransnafta has not yet commented on the matter.
According to Reuters, both Hungarian oil giant MOL and Slovak pipeline operator Transpetrol have confirmed the disruption. MOL said it had reserves of oil to last several weeks and was working on a solution. This week MOL and its Slovak unit Slovnaft said they had offered to pay the transit fees on Transneft's behalf to Ukrtransnafta.
Hungary has already had to implement fuel rationing because of domestic shortages, amid general tightness on the European market, exacerbated by fuel price caps that the government has introduced.
In its statement, Transneft said that it made payments to cover oil transit in August to Ukrtransnafta, but that the money was returned on July 28 after the
17 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com