For the third consecutive day Moscow continues to cut gas supplies to Europe. After Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Holland and Denmark, it is now the turn of Germany, Austria and Italy to run out of gas. “Based on a daily demand for gas by Eni of approximately 63 million cubic meters – reads the note from the group led by Claudio Descalzi – Gazprom has communicated that it will supply only 50% of what is requested (with actual quantities delivered almost unchanged from yesterday)". The Russian energy giant started with a 15% drop, then up to 35% and now takes the reduction to half of what it requested.
The President of the Council Mario Draghi in Ukraine, where he was visiting with Macron and Scholz, said he believed the cuts are just "lies" and that "there is actually a political use of gas, as well as wheat".
The problem is whether we can continue to fill the stocks in the depots, which currently – updated to June 15 – are 54.% full according to the EIG platform. Other reassurances also from the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani according to which these cuts have so far produced "limited damage". The minister also said that if this reduction in supply persists, the government is ready to implement countermeasures at the beginning of next week.
But if the Russia continues to cut, the target of 80% storage by November as requested by Brussels may not be reached. And industry will pay the worst price, as Europe tries to protect consumers by limiting the use of industrial gas.
The price of gas still jumps
In the meantime, continues the price run of the futures contract in the European reference market, the Amsterdam TTF. After yesterday's leap - which reached a peak of 148,99 euros per megawatt hour - today the price of gas had opened down in Europe, at 118 euros at 8 in the morning. After the announcement, it shot above 130 euros per megawatt hour.
Europe running out of liquid natural gas
Gazprom's move comes a few days after the fire that temporarily shut down the main hub for shipping US liquid natural gas from the US to the rest of the world: the Freeport Texas. As we know, the agreement signed in Brussels by US President Joe Biden and the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, provides for the commitment of the United States to increase its LNG supplies already this year to compensate for any reductions from Moscow . Problems at the Texan terminal are not good news: the accident will reduce export capacity by a fifth of liquefied gas from the US for "at least three weeks" and full capacity should not be available until the end of 2022. Another sign agitating the European gas market which now sets its sights on Algeria, Azerbaijan and Nigeria.
France no longer receives Russian gas via Nord Stream
French gas transmission system operator GRTgaz has announced that it will no longer receive Russian gas as of June 15. The cause is "the interruption of the physical flow between France and Germany", or rather the "technical problems" recorded along the plant of the Nord Stream 1, which connects gas transport between Moscow and Berlin and then to other parts of theEurope.
In recent days, the Russian giant Gazprom has significantly reduced its supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which could have caused a disruption in supplies to France. However, the French operator has reassured that French stocks are 56% full, compared to the usual 50% in the same period.
