Yamal-Europe pipeline back to reverse mode after brief westbound flows

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station at the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s Yamal-Europe gas pipeline has resumed supplies from Germany to Poland on Saturday after a short period of westbound flows overnight for the first time since late December, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

Markets have been on edge about possible disruptions to energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although Russian commodity exports have not been seriously affected so far.

Gas in the German-Polish section of the pipeline has been flowing eastward since Dec. 21 as buyers in Poland drew on stored supplies from Germany rather than buying more Russian gas at high spot prices. [NG/EU]

Russian gas giant Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) briefly resumed supplies via the link to the West amid high demand in Europe, especially from Italy, an industry source told Reuters earlier. It booked transit westbound capacity via the pipeline for a few hours at a daily auction on Friday.

The westbound flows at the Mallnow metering point had been at 6.5 million kilowatt hours per hour (kWh/h) for around eight hours overnight before reverse supplies resumed.

According to the data, gas flows via the Mallnow metering point to Poland from Germany stood at almost 5 million kWh/h as of 0800 GMT on Saturday.

The source, who sought anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media, said the prospect for long-term westbound supplies was not clear amid market volatility.

The pipeline usually accounts for about 15% of Russia’s westbound supply of gas to Europe and Turkey.

Gazprom, which can book pipeline capacity at daily auctions, has not ordered any transit capacity for February and March via the route at monthly auctions.

It has not booked capacity for the second and third quarters of the year.

Russia has also boosted supply to Europe via Ukraine, data showed, as a spike in prices has made it cheaper to buy Russian pipeline gas than buy it on the spot market, Refinitiv analysts said.