By KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) has received from Gazprom an application for gas transit on Friday in the amount of 42.4 million cubic meters, the Gas Transmission System Operator said.
The figure on Thursday was the same. Capacities have been announced for only one of the two entry points to the country’s GTS – the Sudzha gas metering station. The application was not accepted along the corridor through the Sokhranivka gas metering station.
From Friday to Sunday, Europe is experiencing a severe cold snap. Saturday night will be especially cold. However, the duration of these cold weather turned out to be much shorter than previously predicted. The publication of a milder weather forecast allowed gas prices in Europe to correct slightly.
A day-ahead (Friday) contract at the TTF hub in the Netherlands closed at $1,075 per 1,000 cubic meters. December futures on the TTF index closed at $1145.
Electricity generation from wind turbines in Europe for four days of the current week provided an average of 20% of the European energy balance, with an average of 20% last week, according to the WindEurope association.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline has been completely shut down.
Europe has started withdrawing gas from its storage facilities – net withdrawal continues for the third reporting day (from November 14 to November 16). The start of this year’s selection season has updated the latest date on GIE sightings (since 2011). The previous latest date was recorded in 2013 (reserves began to decrease on November 4).
Inventory levels are now at 95.38%, some 8.5 percentage points above the average for the same date over the past five years.
In response to lower temperatures, European LNG receiving terminals increased their regasification volumes. Since the beginning of November, their capacity utilization rate has been 67%, while the average for October was 60%.
Before the start of the withdrawal season, American gas companies are increasing the injection of gas into storage facilities, compensating for the summer lag behind the replenishment schedule.
During the next reporting week (ended on November 11), some 1.8 billion cubic meters were sent to UGS facilities of gas, which significantly exceeds the usual injection rates for this time.
The current inventory level is around 76%. It can already be called normal, as it is only 0.2% below the average over the past five years, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy.
However, this is significantly less than the reserves in UGS facilities in Europe.
Now the EIA expects UGS stocks to drop by 60 billion cubic meters this winter (average for the last five years). By the end of March, natural gas volumes in storage facilities will amount to 40 billion cubic meters. m, which is 8% below the average for five years.
