Hungarian grid operator cuts natural gas supplies to Ukraine

Reverse natural gas transmission from Hungary to Ukraine has been halted indefinitely by the Hungarian grid operator FGSZ as of 18:00 Budapest time on Thursday, the company has said.

A statement from FGSZ said the halt in flow was due to a surge in shipper nominations in the opposite direction – into Hungary from Ukraine – from Friday. This has required a technical alteration of the Beregdaroc network point to support increased gas transmission in the westerly direction. FGSZ said this meant the reverse flow capability needed to be halted in order to support the surge in nominations into Hungary.

The jump in gas supply from Russia, which is transited through Ukraine to Hungary, follows the announcement of two storage auctions to be held by the operator MFGT on Friday at two day’s notice.