Russia to start filling European gas storage sites after Nov 8
Russian president Vladimir Putin on October 27 ordered Gazprom to start pumping gas into its gas storage facilities in Europe after November 8, once the company has finished stocking up gas at its domestic sites.
Gazprom aims to have 72.6bn m3 of gas in storage domestically by November 8, after which it will turn its attention to its storage sites in Europe, which have less than a mere 190,000 m3 of gas in storage, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in a published conversation with Putin.
Putin blamed high gas prices in Europe on low levels of storage, a cut in indigenous production and a fall in LNG imports, primarily from the US. He also stressed that Gazprom fully complies with its long-term supply agreements.
Russia has faced criticism for exacerbating the European energy crisis by withholding some gas supply, even though it is on track to pump a near-record amount of gas to its European customers this year. The November gas supply contract at the Dutch TTF hub briefly neared $2,000/'000 m3 earlier this month. It is currently trading at €79.95/MWh (around $990/'000 m3).