Russian state-controlled Gazprom's export arm has increased sales through its online platform this past week, buoyed by strong sales for summer delivery.
The firm sold 397mn m³ on the platform on 18-22 March, up from 166mn m³ on 11-15 March and the most for any single week since the auctions started in late September. Almost 320mn m³ was sold for delivery in April-June. The remainder was sold under day-ahead, weekend and balance-of-month contracts for delivery in March.
Most of the gas was sold for delivery to the Gaspool market area. The firm has maintained strong sales through the platform to Gaspool in recent weeks, with sales to other destinations slowing from previous months. The firm has not sold any gas for delivery to the Dutch TTF market in March or this summer, and sales into most other markets have slowed.
The firm has only sold gas to Gaspool, Slovakia and Hungary for April-June delivery through the platform so far.
Quick sales through the platform could help boost flagging sales under long-term contracts. The firm's sales to Europe, excluding the Baltic states, and Turkey fell in February from a year earlier, with prompt prices consistently at a wide discount to the cost of crude-linked supply and the TTF front-month index possibly encouraging firms to reduce their Russian imports.
And pipeline gas exports — including to the Baltic states, but excluding deliveries to Turkey through the Blue Stream pipeline — have slowed significantly so far this month compared with a year earlier.
