The current export capacity from Ukraine to Poland is some 12.9 million m3/d, but traders' orders have exceeded capacity in recent days.
Makogon said:
- there has been great demand for capacity to enter Poland, which has exceeded the technical capabilities.This situation periodically arises due to the pricing environment in the gas markets.
- similar problems had recently been observed for imports into Ukraine from Hungary, and then for imports into Ukraine from Poland.
Ukraine exported about 120 million m3 of gas to Poland over Jan. 1-10, according to GTSOU. At least 110 million m3 were supplied by Gazprom.
Gazprom traditionally supplies the Polish market through the Yamal-Europe system via Belarus, but has also booked capacity to enter via Ukraine in 2021.
The limitations were also causing GTSOU to cut back on its offer for short-haul gas capacity, a model that allows for reduced transportation tariffs when transferring gas between markets or sending it for storage injection.
GTSOU said that orders for short-haul services had reached 3 million m3 due to increased demand for gas in Europe, but the company had been forced to proportionally limit short-haul volumes for customers to about 1.7 million m3.
Makohon dismissed concerns that GTSOU may have been artificially restricting exports to Poland:
- All capacity is offered to market participants on competitive and transparent term
- Annual, quarterly, monthly and daily capacities are sold on the auction platform and anyone interested can participate
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The standard recommendation for traders looking for guaranteed capacity is to buy longer duration products
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Next week there will be auctions for monthly capacities for February. We invite everyone
