Gas flows to Europe from Russia drops in June

Russian gas flows to Europe dropped to new lows in June after Gazprom slashed supply via the Nord Stream pipeline. The pipeline was cut off cut off to more buyers over a ruble payment dispute.

Russian pipeline exports to Europe in June via its main operational corridors — Nord Stream, Ukraine and the TurkStream string to Europe — totaled just 4.69 Bcm, down 41% compared with supplies of 7.93 Bcm in May.

Russian gas deliveries to Europe fell sharply in mid-June when Gazprom cut supplies through Nord Stream to just 40% of capacity, citing maintenance issues with a key compressor station.

The reduction has led to reduced flows to some of the EU’s biggest buyers of Russian gas such as Germany’s Uniper, Italy’s Eni, and Austria’s OMV.

Nord Stream is also set to close completely for its annual maintenance shutdown in July. Gazprom has also cut off supplies to a number of European buyers over their refusal to comply with Moscow’s new ruble-based payment mechanism.

The first companies to lose access to Russian gas were Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and Poland’s PGNiG and Finland’s Gasum.

Deliveries were also halted to Dutch trader GasTerra and to Denmark’s Orsted and to Shell, whose contract was for Russian gas supply into Germany.