Russia’s Gazprom threatened to cut gas flows to Europe next week, via its only remaining route in Ukraine, adding to the energy crunch.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Gazprom accused Ukraine of diverting natural gas supplies transiting to Moldova in what is the latest point of contention over energy deliveries between Kyiv, European capitals, and Moscow, according to Barron’s.
“The volume of gas supplied by Gazprom… for transit to Moldova via Ukraine is more than the physical volume transmitted at the border of Ukraine with Moldova,” Gazprom said in a statement.
Ukraine’s gas transmission system operator said it delivered to Moldova the full volume of gas it received from Russia’s Gazprom PJSC that was due for such a transfer, reports Yahoo Finance.
Gazprom’s threats to cut gas transit to Moldova is an attempt to block the country from using the Ukrainian transit system and underground gas storage, the company said.
Nevertheless, Gazprom said, “If the transit imbalance through Ukraine for Moldovan consumers persists, on November 28, from 10:00, Gazprom will begin reducing gas supply” through a key transit point for deliveries to Europe.”
Ukraine and EU energy crisis
This latest threat comes at a precarious time for the European Union, which has been scrambled to fill gas storage sites ahead of winter. And added to that crisis, the damage to Ukraine’s power grid by the constant Russian shelling has been “colossal,” reports Reuters.
Russia’s strikes on the Ukraine energy grid have also led to blackouts in neighboring Moldova. Chisinau’s pro-European president, Maia Sandu, has warned that her country of 2.6 million people nestled between Romania and war-scarred Ukraine risks running out of gas and electricity this winter.
There is almost no thermal or hydroelectric stations that have been left unscathed by the Russian attacks, said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, chief executive officer of Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national power grid operator.
“The scale of destruction is colossal,” Kudrytskyi said. “In Ukraine, there is a power generation deficit. We cannot generate as much energy as consumers can use.”
He said a short cold snap was expected from Wednesday but that temperatures would rise again after that, providing an opportunity to stabilize the power generating system.
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