Gazprom’s October Exports Near Monthly Record

Gazprom’s total gas exports to non-CIS states rose by 10% to 144bn m³ in ten months, CEO Alexei Miller said.

Gas deliveries to Denmark rose 149.4%, to the Netherlands 91.8%, to the UK 54.6%, to Greece 47.3%, to Austria 27.5%, to France 20.4%, to Poland 16.7%, to Turkey 14%, and to Germany 7.5%.

The success is largely due to the price policy. Gazprom’s long-term contract price averages at about $170/”000 m³. Spot sales are above $200/’000m³. Under such conditions, importers are rushing to take advantage of more favourable offers, Russian analysts say.

Nord Stream flows flat since April

In the ten months of 2016 the volume of gas exported by Nord Stream increased by 12%. The entire increase was provided in 1Q 16 due to the low base of last year (in January-March 2015 the supply of gas by the non-transit Nord Stream pipeline was reduced by half). In the period from April to October 2016 the volume of exports by Nord Stream slightly decreased by 1%.

This was the conclusion drawn by the head of the consulting firm East European Gas Analysis Mikhail Korchemkin, analysing the activity of Nord Stream.

Nord Stream surfaces in Greifswald

(Source: Nord Stream)

As he wrote on his blog, "for the ten months the volume of transit of Russian gas through Ukraine grew by 21%, and exports via the Yamal - Europe gas pipeline fell by 5%."

Korchemkin believes that this shows that the export route through Ukraine is the preferred one. “Gazprom can hardly afford additional payments related to the transit transfer to the more expensive route through Nord Stream, Germany and the Czech Republic,” he said. 

Ilham Shaban