Poland reorientates gas imports after cutoff

Polish gas imports from Germany almost doubled on 27 April following a near total cutoff of Russian supply to the country.

Russian state-controlled Gazprom said it would halt deliveries from 27 April under the firm's 10.2bn m³/yr contract with PGNiG following the Polish side's refusal to pay for gas in roubles. That said, a small 23GWh of supply did enter through Poland's eastern borders yesterday, but this was well below the 278 GWh/d on 20-26 April. No flows were nominated at Kondratki today.

On average, Poland imported 324 GWh/d from Russia through its eastern borders from 1-26 April. To make up for this loss of supply, Polish importers boosted imports from Germany at Mallnow, which jumped to 305GWh on 27 April, up from 59GWh the previous day, and from average imports of 105 GWh/d on 1-26 April. Polish entry at Mallnow is nominated for 317GWh today.

Polish injections into storage also stepped down to 158GWh from 234 GWh/d on 20-26 April. There was a similar reorientation of supply in January, when Russian flows into Poland were also near zero and Poland increased withdrawals from storage and imports at Mallnow to cover lost supply.

Argus analysis suggests there is limited scope for Polish LNG imports to replace Russian flows, given a lack of flexibility at the 4.8mn t/yr Swinoujscie terminal, which is operating at close to maximum capacity. Sendout was 215GWh yesterday, up from 139 GWh/d on 1-26 April, but regasification cannot rise much past this given the facility's technical capacity of around 220 GWh/d.

PGNiG may need to continue buying gas from Germany at Mallnow if it wants to maintain a brisk stockbuild. That said, from 1 May, the GIPL pipeline linking Poland and Lithuania will be partially commissioned, which will grant the country another potential supply source, including additional access to LNG. PGNiG expects to receive its first cargo at the 2.9mn t/yr Klaipeda LNG terminal in Lithuania in May.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupryanov told Russian state news agency Tass that Poland had not stopped buying Russian gas, but was simply continuing to buy Russian gas via a third party in Germany as opposed to directly from Russia. He noted that the volumes flowing to Poland at Mallnow are almost exactly equal to the amount of gas Poland had been receiving under the contract with Gazprom Export in the previous days.

By Brendan A'Hearn