Russian gas flows eastward via Yamal-Europe pipeline for fifth day

A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (Reuters) – The Yamal-Europe pipeline that usually sends Russian gas to Western Europe was operating in a reverse mode for a fifth day on Saturday, shipping fuel from Germany to Poland, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

European gas prices climbed to a record this week after Yamal switched direction, but eased on Friday .

Russia said the flow reversal was not a political move, although it coincides with rising tension between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the reversal was due to lack of requests from buyers. read more

Putin also said on Friday that Russia was “sidelined” by Poland in managing the pipeline. read more

Flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border were going east into Poland at an hourly volume of more than 1.1 million kilowatt hours (kWh/h) on Saturday and were expected to stay at these levels during the day, the data shows.

Russian gas giant Gazprom had not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Saturday, auction results showed. read more

Data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed capacity nominations for Saturday’s Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point were at 747,031 megawatt hour (MWh), slightly up from Friday’s 739,843 MWh but below levels seen in the past weeks.

That drop was being balanced by higher nominations for flows from the Czech Republic to Slovakia, meaning nominations for flows from Slovakia to the Austrian hub Baumgarten were roughly stable compared with the levels in the past days and weeks.

Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by William Mallard

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