Ukraine Finishes Repairing Slovakian Border Pipe
Ukrainian gas grid operator GTSOU has completed scheduled repairs at the Looping-4 gas pipeline near the border with Slovakia on schedule, it said on September 21. Therefore as of September 22 it is once again accepting applications for the transport of gas from Slovakia to Ukraine via the Budince gas metering station (GMS).
The repairs were originally due to begin in early August but were rescheduled to commence at the start of September, after concerns were raised by market participants. During the pipeline's downtime, gas flows to Ukraine were redirected to the larger-capacity Velke Kapuszany (VK) GMS. The length of the repair time was also reduced to three weeks from seven, GTSOU said.
The Loop-4 pipeline has 27mn m3/day of guaranteed and 15.5mn m3/day of interruptible import capacity into Ukraine, of which 12.2mn m3/day is already booked by customers until the end of September. Eustream has said that from October, reverse flow at Velke Kapuszany will cease. Reverse flow was helpful for gas traders looking to use storage capacity in Ukraine.