London --23Jun2010/549 am EDT/949 GMT
German energy giant RWE said Wednesday that Russia's decision to cut
flows of gas to Belarus, an important transit state, by 60% Wednesday, up from
15-30% earlier this week, would not affect customers.
"RWE does not expect any impact on the security of gas supplies to their
customers," the company said.
Some major Russian gas export lines run through Belarus into Ukraine and
from Belarus to Poland. But Russia also flows much of its gas straight into
Ukraine to Slovakia.
"Russian gas for our customers in the Czech Republic and Europe is being
delivered through the Ukraine and Slovakia," RWE said. "Storages are
well-stocked, and situation is smooth due [to] the weather conditions."
Gas demand is much lower during summers than winters, when heating demand
is higher.
Day-ahead gas at Continental Europe's main spot trading hub, the Dutch
TTF, traded at Eur19.50/MWh Wednesday morning. That was little changed from
last week, before the Russia-Belarus dispute.
Earlier Wednesday European gas trade association Eurogas called for a
swift end to the dispute and said it "insists that a bilateral dispute should
not have an impact on European customers."
RWE said that the dispute was, however, proof that Europe needed more
diverse transport routes for its gas.
Russia is developing new routes such as the Nord Stream and South Stream
pipelines to avoid the sort of disruption seen in recent years with neighbors
Belarus and Ukraine. The new routes would bypass those countries.
RWE is a strong backer of the Nabucco project to import Caspian gas to
western Europe through a major new non-Russian pipeline.
German energy giant RWE said Wednesday that Russia's decision to cut
flows of gas to Belarus, an important transit state, by 60% Wednesday, up from
15-30% earlier this week, would not affect customers.
"RWE does not expect any impact on the security of gas supplies to their
customers," the company said.
Some major Russian gas export lines run through Belarus into Ukraine and
from Belarus to Poland. But Russia also flows much of its gas straight into
Ukraine to Slovakia.
"Russian gas for our customers in the Czech Republic and Europe is being
delivered through the Ukraine and Slovakia," RWE said. "Storages are
well-stocked, and situation is smooth due [to] the weather conditions."
Gas demand is much lower during summers than winters, when heating demand
is higher.
Day-ahead gas at Continental Europe's main spot trading hub, the Dutch
TTF, traded at Eur19.50/MWh Wednesday morning. That was little changed from
last week, before the Russia-Belarus dispute.
Earlier Wednesday European gas trade association Eurogas called for a
swift end to the dispute and said it "insists that a bilateral dispute should
not have an impact on European customers."
RWE said that the dispute was, however, proof that Europe needed more
diverse transport routes for its gas.
Russia is developing new routes such as the Nord Stream and South Stream
pipelines to avoid the sort of disruption seen in recent years with neighbors
Belarus and Ukraine. The new routes would bypass those countries.
RWE is a strong backer of the Nabucco project to import Caspian gas to
western Europe through a major new non-Russian pipeline.
