Despite fighting, Russian gas flows to Europe

VIENNA/PRAGUE, August 13 (Reuters) – Heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces near a pipeline through which Russia supplies gas to European countries has not led to supply disruptions, network operators and gas companies said on Tuesday.

The European Union has drastically reduced its dependence on Russian gas after the start of the Ukraine war in 2022. Austria is thus the EU country most dependent on Russian supplies.

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“We are not aware of any pressure fluctuations, all nominations are proceeding as planned and there are no indications of irregularities,” says Gas Connect Austria spokesman Armin Teichert.

The Russian Gazprom group also announced on Tuesday that it would continue to pump gas into Ukraine via Sudzha, just across the Ukrainian border.

It was unclear which side controlled the Russian town of Sudzha, through which Russia pumps gas from Western Siberia through Ukraine and on to Slovakia and other European Union countries.

“From today’s perspective, no supply problems are to be expected in Austria, as storage levels are high and Russian gas could be substituted via Germany or Italy. However, if there were to be an immediate interruption in supply, Austria would be economically burdened, particularly by the German gas storage levy,” says a statement from the Austrian energy regulator E-Control.

Since 2022, the levy on German gas storage facilities has been rising, making Austrian gas imports via Germany about three times more expensive than those via Slovakia, said analysts at Kpler Insight.

The Austrian Energy Ministry told Reuters that measures had been taken over the past two years to reduce dependence on Russian gas in the long term.

“As long as there is a dependence on Russian gas supplies, there is a massive risk of a corresponding supply failure with far-reaching consequences,” the source added.

Most recipients of gas from Ukraine have said they were already preparing for a halt in gas supplies at the end of this year, when a transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia expires and Ukraine has said it does not intend to renew it.

Eight entry points connect Ukraine with Slovakia, Poland, Romania and Hungary, through which Russian flows can enter the EU. Currently, two of them are in use – at Polish and Slovak connection points – and then the volumes can be redirected to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, according to analysts at Kpler Insight.

They estimate that Slovakia’s implicit use of Ukrainian financial flows will be almost 80 percent in 2023.

“This dependence could increase if gas imports from Hungary decline and a cold winter occurs, because then Russian gas will no longer be available to refill the storage facilities,” it said.

The Slovak gas company SPP said it had been preparing for the risk of a halt in Russian gas supplies for several years and had trade agreements with non-Russian suppliers.

Hungary receives around 1 billion cubic meters of RussiaN Gas per year via a pipeline from Austria and a spokesman for the Hungarian pipeline operator said that gas was still flowing.

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, Jan Lopatka and Anita Komuves; writing by Nina Chestney, editing by Barbara Lewis and David Evans, Kirsten Donovan)