The Yamel-Europe pipeline, which normally supplies Russian gas to Western Europe, is carrying gas back to Poland this Friday in a row on Sunday, according to data from German network operator Gascade.
Data showed that flows at the Mallnow measuring point on the German-Polish border turned east into Poland at an hourly volume of almost 1.2 million kilowatt hours (kWh / hour) on Sunday and are expected to remain at these levels during the day.
Gascade is owned by WIGA, a joint venture of Gazprom and the Wintershall DEA oil and gas company (WINT.UL). Wintershall DEA is jointly owned by the German chemical group BASF (BASFn.DE) and the Russian LetterOne.
Russia said this week that the reversal of the flow is not a political move, although “by chance” it coincides with an increase in tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that “Germany is reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine instead of easing the gas market in Europe” and in fact places the blame for the upheaval and prices skyrocket on German gas importers.
Data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed that the capacity candidatures for Russian gas flow on Sunday from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point were 739,826 megawatts (MWh), a slight decrease from 747,031 MWh on Saturday and below levels in recent weeks.