Gazprom: Russian gas intended for Moldovan consumers ends up in Ukraine

Alexey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Business FM radio station on the reasons for the “settlement” of Russian gas in the Ukrainian GTS, intended for transit to Moldova:

“Starting from the end of September, there are strong discrepancies between Ukrainian data on gas supplies at the inlet and outlet of the Ukrainian GTS. In October, the total difference amounted to 89 million cubic meters, in the first half of November - 93.4 million cubic meters in general for all deliveries. But a significant part of this difference was and is explained, in my opinion, by the reduction in supplies to the EU countries. The reasons why this gas does not reach may be different. It settles, which means, in this case, technically, most likely, it remains in the pipeline, it is unlikely that it is pumped into underground storage facilities, not such large volumes. Why it remains there is an open question, it may be low demand, that is, consumers do not choose gas, for example, this explains why supplies to Slovakia have decreased. Why can the operator of the GTS of Ukraine not bring this gas to the border with Moldova, the reasons can be theoretically technical, but then the company would have announced this, but so far there have been no statements. It is difficult to name the reasons why the GTS operator could not supply these volumes. From the side of an external observer, most likely, the problem is still in demand. Consumers, part of "Moldovagaz" did not pay for these volumes, and "Gazprom" itself did not deliver them. But if Gazprom, judging by the statement, blames the Ukrainian side for this, it looks very strange, and this needs to be seriously dealt with.”