Yantai, China – September 11, 2023 – On September 11, 2023, a large LNG tank deck ship fully loaded with LNG imported from Malaysia docked at Longkou Port Area, Yantai Port, Shandong Province, China. As a port with integrated pipeline operations, the proportion of Yantai Port importing oil and gas from countries along the “Belt and Road” such as Malaysia, Russia, Brazil, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore has increased year-on-year, reaching 86% in the first eight months of 2023. (Photo credit should be CFOTO/Future Publishing, taken from Getty Images)
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Russian natural gas exports through a Soviet-era pipeline through Ukraine stopped on New Year’s Day, marking the end of Moscow’s decades-long dominance of European energy markets.
Gas has continued to flow despite nearly three years of war, but Gazprom said it had stopped at 0500 GMT after Ukraine refused to renew a transit agreement.
The widely expected shutdown will not affect prices for EU consumers – unlike in 2022, when falling supplies from Russia drove prices to record highs, exacerbating a cost-of-living crisis and hitting the bloc’s competitiveness.
The last remaining EU buyers of Russian gas through Ukraine, such as Slovakia and Austria, have arranged alternative supplyand Hungary will continue to receive Russian natural gas through the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea.
But Transnistria, a pro-Russian region in Ukraine’s neighboring Moldova, also relies on transit transport, Turn off heating and hot water Available to households early Wednesday. Local energy company Tirasteploenergo urged residents to wear warm clothes, hang blankets or thick curtains on windows and balcony doors and use electric heaters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app that halting gas shipments to Europe through Ukraine was “one of Moscow’s biggest failures” and urged the United States to supply more gas to Europe.
“The more energy on the market from Europe’s true partners, the sooner we can overcome the final negative consequences of Europe’s energy dependence on Russia,” he wrote.
Europe’s “common task” now, he wrote, is to support former Soviet Moldova “during this period of energy transition.”
The European Commission said the EU was ready for a shutdown.
“Europe’s gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas from non-Russian sources,” a commission spokesman said. “This capability has been further enhanced by significant new LNG (liquefied natural gas) import capacity since 2022.”
Russia and the former Soviet Union spent half a century building up a major share of the European gas market, peaking at about 35%. But since the war in Ukraine began, the EU has reduced its reliance on Russian energy by buying more pipeline gas from Norway and liquefied natural gas from Qatar and the United States.
Ukraine, which has refused to extend the transit deal, said Europe had decided to abandon Russian gas.
“We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its market and it will suffer financial losses,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galuchenko said in a statement.
substitute supplies
Ukraine will lose up to $1 billion a year in transit fees from Russia. To help offset the impact, it will Quadruple natural gas transmission tariff Starting Wednesday, domestic consumers may lose more than 1.6 billion hryvnia ($38.2 million) as a result.
Gazprom will lose nearly $5 billion in gas sales.
The company stops supplying Austrian OMV (OMVV.VI), opens a new tab In mid-November, due to a contract dispute, but in recent weeks, Russian gas has arrived in Austria via Slovakia at a rate of about 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day. Austrian energy regulator E-Control said that only about 7 GWh of electricity was expected to flow from Slovakia to Austria per day on January 1.
SPP, Slovakia’s main natural gas buyer, said it will mainly supply natural gas to customers through pipelines in Germany and Hungary, but will face additional transportation costs.
In 2018, Russia’s joint pipeline transported 201 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to Europe, a record high.
The Nord Stream route across the Baltic Sea to Germany was bombed in 2022, and the Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus has also been closed.
Russia will ship about 15 bcm of gas through Ukraine in 2023, down from 65 bcm when the previous five-year contract began in 2020.
About The Author
