Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it would halt the flow of gas at a transit point that it claims transports over a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through the country, blaming Moscow for the decision and promising to redirect the flows elsewhere.
The operator of Ukraine's gas system, GTSOU, announced on Wednesday that flows via the Sokhranivka route will be suspended beginning on Wednesday, citing "force majeure," a condition that applies when a company is impacted by an event beyond its control.
The business claimed in a statement that it was unable to function at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to "occupying forces' interference in technical operations," but that it could temporarily pert the impacted flow to the 'Sudzha' physical connecting point in territory.
It added that it could temporarily shift the affected flow elsewhere, to the 'Sudzha' physical interconnection point located in territory controlled by Ukraine.
However, Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports through pipeline, stated that shifting all volumes to the Sudzha connecting point, as requested by GTSOU, was "technologically unfeasible."
Even after Russia's invasion on February 24, Ukraine has remained a vital transit route for Russian gas to Europe.
Russian army and separatist rebels have taken the Novopskov compressor station in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine since shortly after Moscow launched a "special military operation." continue reading
It is the first compressor in the Ukraine gas transit system in the Luhansk area, which is the transit route for roughly 32.6 million cubic metres of gas per day, or almost a third of the Russian gas delivered to Europe via Ukraine, GTSOU said.
GTSOU said it would "temporarily move unavailable capacity" to the Sudzha interconnection point in Ukraine-controlled territory in order to fully meet its "transit obligations to European partners."
Gazprom said it had received notification from Ukraine that it will halt gas transit to Europe via the Sokhranivka interconnector on May 11 at 0700 local time.
Ukraine recommended switching all gas transportation to Sudzha, according to the Russian company, which saw no evidence of force majeure or barriers to operating as before.
Gazprom also stated that it was fulfilling all of its obligations to European gas buyers.
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