Ukraine’s natural gas grid operator said on Tuesday that it will stop transporting Russian gas through an eastern border entry point called Sokhranivka, raising fears of a cutoff of flows to Europe.
The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine said that, starting Wednesday, it will quit accepting Russian gas on the entry point since the Russians were interfering in technical processes at gas facilities and endangering “the steadiness and safety of the whole Ukrainian gas transportation system.”
Russian troops occupy territory in eastern Ukraine through which the pipeline passes.
The corporate said the shutdown could close off a couple of third of the gas transiting from Russia through Ukraine. The corporate also said there was a possibility of switching the gas to a different transit point.
Prospects of a cutoff of a key natural gas artery sent shivers through the markets, which were already on edge due to war and Russia’s recent decision to stop gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria.
Natural gas prices on the Dutch TTF exchange shot up Tuesday afternoon but settled back, ending up rising 3.4 percent on the day, to 97 euros per megawatt-hour.
To date, flows of Russian gas through Ukraine have been remarkably stable despite the war. But Ukrainian officials have repeatedly complained concerning the actions of the Russians and warned that they risked a shutdown of the gas transmission.
In a recent interview, Yuriy Vitrenko, the chief executive of Naftogaz, the Ukrainian national energy company that has the transit contract with Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas supplier, said the occupying Russian troops were within the habit of entering gas installations and attempting to interfere with their operating systems.
“They need to manage every part,” he said.
