Russian gas supplies to Germany have risen despite Belarus

Russian gas supplies to Germany via the key Yamal-Europe pipeline rose on Monday without any indication that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko would carry out his threat to cut off commodity supplies to the European Union (EU) as winter approaches. Lukashenko warned last week that in retaliation for possible new EU sanctions against Minsk for a migration crisis on the Union's borders, he could close the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which runs through his country. Russia is a major exporter of natural gas to Europe, and the Kremlin has made it clear that it does not want to see any supply disruptions. European spot gas prices rose 5.1 percent to € 78.85 per megawatt-hour on Monday as the market situation remains tense this year due to several factors, including low commodity stocks and increased demand following the lifting of blockages to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Until recently, the lack of additional gas supplies from Russia, which only met contract volumes, was a major factor behind rising commodity prices. The market is thus closely monitoring any potential disruptions to gas transportation from Russia. Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom began replenishing its European storage facilities last week, transporting gas mainly through Belarus and Ukraine. Gazprom owns the gas transmission infrastructure in Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday (September 13th) that blocking the flow of gas to Germany would risk damaging relations with a key ally, Moscow. He added that he would discuss this issue with Lukashenko. The flow of gas to Germany at the Mallnow metering point, which lies on the Polish border, reached an hourly volume of over 12,000,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) on Monday, according to the German network operator Gascade.