Outage in European Gas Line Creates Panic

Upon the information that the natural gas lines supplied to Europe via Ukraine will be cut, natural gas prices in Europe reached record levels.

On the news that there will be an outage in natural gas lines going to Europe, an increase was observed in European natural gas prices. The Ukrainian pipeline company said that as a result of Russian attacks in the region, gas at the distribution point will be cut off on Wednesday. Although the Ukrainian company stated that the distribution of gas from other points may continue, Gazprom announced that this is not possible. Following the announcement of the cut, the European natural gas price climbed by 5.4 percent, according to the indicators listed in the Netherlands. Sergey Kupriyanov, a representative of the Russian energy company Gazprom, made statements to media in Moscow regarding the Sohranovka point, where 30 percent of Russian gas going through Ukraine enters. Noting that Ukraine has informed that it will no longer purchase Russian gas from Sohranovka due to force majeure, Kupriyanov said, "The Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator has stated that it will no longer do so as of May 11 through Sohranovka. They offered to move all gas capacity to Suca point. While Gazprom cannot predict any situations that will create a force majeure, it does not see any obstacles to continue working in the same manner.”