Europe Continues To Slurp Russian Natural Gas

Slurp, it's a technical term.
From Platts 'The Barrel' blog:

Nord Stream 2, other disputes neglect to dent Russian natural gas flows to EU
 

Russia’s Gazprom continues to provide high volumes of natural gas to the European Union despite long-running disputes over pipelines, contest together with Ukraine, the latest S&P Global Platts direct to EU-Russian natural gas relations shows.

Flows via its 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Deutschland striking a tape high of 51 Bcm inwards 2017, helped past times increased access to the onshore OPAL gas pipeline, at starting fourth dimension simply inwards Jan together with thus continuously from August.

The European Commission’s determination inwards Oct 2016 to allow Gazprom to access upwards to 12.8 Bcm/year of extra OPAL capacity through populace auctions was intended to settle that item dispute, running since 2013.

But state-owned Polish gas fellowship PGNiG gained an interim courtroom lodge to suspend the decision, causing the time out inwards capacity sales from Feb to July. It has besides asked the European Union General Court inwards Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to annul the determination completely.

The courtroom has said it volition dominion on this inwards 2019, together with that capacity booked for afterwards this ruling may non live on guaranteed. That leaves an chemical part of incertitude over Gazprom’s futurity access to OPAL until the ruling is given.

EC BATTLES AGAINST NORD STREAM two
While the EC has given Gazprom the greenish calorie-free to purpose to a greater extent than of Nord Stream 1, it is notwithstanding battling fiercely against Gazprom’s planned 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream two project, due onstream at the goal of 2019.

The latest salvo is the EC’s proposal to utilize European Union 3rd divulge energy bundle internal marketplace rules to all offshore gas links amongst non-EU countries upwards to the throttle of European Union countries’ exclusive economical zones, which become beyond their territorial waters....MUCH MORE