Germany’s gas imports overall are stable, the regulator said, as a 25% drop in flows at Waidhaus on the German border with the Czech Republic was more than compensated by higher volumes from Norway and the Netherlands.
Kyiv said on Tuesday it would suspend gas flows through the Sokhranivka transit point which it said delivered almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe via Ukraine and move the flows elsewhere.
The German regulator’s comment followed an earlier statement by Germany’s economy ministry in response to the halting of Russian gas flows to Europe through the key transit point in Ukraine, the first time exports via Ukraine have been disrupted since the invasion.
“Supply security continues to be safeguarded,” said the Bonn-based regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, which reports to the economy ministry and is monitoring the situation closely.
Germany is Europe’s biggest natural gas consumer.
The regulator also said Germany’s underground gas storage levels were significantly higher for the time of year than those recorded in the spring of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
Industry data showed German gas inventories at 38.8% this week, compared with 26.4% a year ago.
The regulator said that increases in wholesale prices following Ukraine’s action had not been noteworthy.
Dutch wholesale next day delivery was up 1.8% at 1130 GMT but below an earlier intraday high, which had taken the contract 8.2% higher.
Ukraine on Tuesday declared force majeure on one of its transit routes implying it would not deliver nearly a third of the gas Russia pipes to Europe via Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere.
Gazprom said it saw no proof of force majeure or obstacles to continuing as before, adding that it was meeting all obligations to buyers of gas in Europe.
The Ukrainian Sudzha point was working and so were flows into Europe via Poland on the Yamal pipeline and via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline across the Baltic Sea.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Jane Merriman)