Friday, July 21, 2023

"Low winds hampering European gas inventory build..."

When it is very warm or very cold, both extremes being indicative of a high pressure blob o'atmosphere, you don't get much wind. Unfortunately those are exactly the times  you want the 'leccy to be free-flowing and bountiful.

From Interfax-Russia:

Gas injection into underground storage facilities in Europe is at a three-week low, with gas being used to offset low power generation by wind turbines.

UKRAINE TRANSIT
Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Russia's Gazprom today to transport 42.4 million cubic meters of gas through the country, as on Thursday, data from GTSOU show.

Capacity was requested only through one of two entry points into Ukraine's Gas Transport System, the Sudzha metering station. A request was not accepted through the Sokhranovka metering station.

"Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine at the volume confirmed by the Ukraine side via the Sudzha metering station at 42.4 mcm on July 21, with booking via the Sokhranovka metering station declined," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.

GTSOU has declared a force majeure with respect to acceptance of gas for transit through Sokhranovka, claiming that it cannot control the Novopskov compressor station. The route through Sokhranovka had provided transit of more than 30 mcm of gas per day. Gazprom believes that there are no grounds for the force majeure or obstacles to continuing operations as before.

EUROPEAN MARKET
Wind power generation in Europe remained at its recent lows on Thursday, with wind turbines generating 8.7% of Europe's electricity, according to WindEurope data. Wind generation has averaged at around 14% so far this month.

The spot price for gas in Europe rose 5% on Thursday: the day-ahead contract at the TTF gas hub in the Netherlands closed at $321 per thousand cubic meters.

The spread between LNG prices in Asia and those in Europe is widening. In Asia, the most expensive futures contract for September on the JKM Platts index is $390 per thousand cubic meters, and futures under the LNG North-West Europe Marker are $321 per thousand cubic meters.

EUROPEAN INVENTORIES
Europe continues to pump gas into storage. Current inventory levels in Europe's underground gas storage facilities are 82.53%, which is 15 percentage points above the average for the same date over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Inventories rose 0.2 percentage points, the least for 21 days, during the July 19 gas day. Injection rates are still markedly less than the five-year average, but it will be possible to achieve the target level of 90% by the end of September if these rates are sustained throughout the summer....

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