The ten billion cubic metres of gas storage on offer could provide a lifeline through a difficult winter and expand its reserves by 10pc. The EU has capacity to store around 100 billion cubic metres worth of gas, amounting to around a quarter of its annual demand. Still, for the EU, storing gas in Ukraine is a calculated risk. The trigger was strikes at Australian liquified natural gas plants, highlighting how jittery markets remain in the face of any hint of supply threats. Despite more placid prices for much of this year, European gas rose by more than 30pc on Wednesday to register the biggest daily jump since the start of the war. The energy market remains on a knife-edge. The revelation that growing quantities of gas are being pumped into Ukraine will spark concern that the healthy levels of storage are less reliable than they may seem with winter just months away. “So far, Russia has refrained from targeting the gas export infrastructure but of course in war everything is uncertain,” Losz says.īut he adds: “If the gas infrastructure becomes a target of Russian strikes, then of course it’s vulnerable to attack.” Russia still relies on Ukrainian pipelines as one of two corridors for the gas it sells to Europe. “The transmission pipes themselves that are needed to fill and remove gas from Ukrainian storage can also be damaged.” The underground caverns are themselves not vulnerable to attacks, but above ground there are compressor stations and valves and pipelines that can be damaged. Suspected Russian attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline, the Khakhova dam and grain reserves show the Kremlin has the capacity and a penchant for targeting critical infrastructure.Īkos Losz from the Center on Global Energy Policy says: “Storage is not the easiest to target.
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