Polish gas exports to Ukraine cut until Friday – Naftogaz

Gas imports into Ukraine from Poland were cut at 14:00 on Wednesday afternoon and will not restart until 08:00 on Friday, according to a statement from Ukrainian incumbent Naftogaz.

The interruption was caused by a reduction of gas supply from Russian supplier Gazprom at Poland’s border points with Belarus and Ukraine (where gas is supplied to Poland from Russia), the country’s grid operator and incumbent have said in statements released on Wednesday afternoon.

According to incumbent PGNiG and system operator GAZ-SYSTEM, up to 24% of natural gas deliveries have been reduced in the last two days.

A statement from PGNiG said the company was investigating if the supply cuts in relation to orders from Gazprom Export were of a “technical or commercial” nature.

When asked by ICIS why Russian deliveries into Poland had been reduced, a spokesman from Gazprom said the company was “supplying gas into Poland in line with the availability of our resources”.

“The discrepancy between the Polish nominations and the volumes delivered are because we are needing gas to inject into Russian storage.”

Missing volumes for Polish consumption have been compensated by gas deliveries from other hubs, the two Polish companies said, notably from the capacity available at German and Czech border points.

In June, Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that it was ready to cut gas exports to Europe if Ukraine received gas supply from European countries through reverse-flow technology. Currently, reverse flow is used by European companies to supply gas to Ukraine via Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

The Polish pipeline that provides gas to Ukraine has a capacity of 4 million cubic metres per day. Karolina Zagrodna, Elizabeth Stonor and Miriam Siers