BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. While the investigation into the cause of the Nord Stream damage is ongoing, a near-guaranteed supply cutoff will inevitably affect Europe’s gas supply this winter, said Rystad Energy’s vice president Emily McClain, Trend reports.
However, McClain believes that even more concerning is the impact on gas storage inventories ahead of next winter.
“Supply cutoffs of this magnitude cannot be shaken off –even a short-term political swing in a pro-Russia direction would not be able to piece back together the severely dismantled gas system in Europe. With news of the pipeline system damage, Nord Stream 1 nominations that had emerged last week – and that were then renominated to zero – were clearly an error and no flows were reported. The possibility and timing of repairing both pipelines is unclear and depends on the severity and type of damage to the system,” she said.
The analyst noted that the leakage could also have significant impacts from the environmental perspective and European energy infrastructure securities. Danish authorities have asked ships to steer clear of a five-nautical-mile radius off the island of Bornholm.
The timing of these incidents could hardly be worse as Norwegian operator Equinor has just entered a deal with Polish gas player PGNiG to supply 2.4 billion cubic meters (Bcm) of gas to Poland for 10 years, starting in January 2023. The volumes, to be supplied via Baltic Pipe, will meet 15 percent of Poland's annual gas demand. The Baltic Pipe will enable transportation of about 10 Bcm of gas, of which PGNiG has reserved around 8 Bcm.
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