Ukraine resumes Russian gas transit to EU at normal volumes

KIEV (Reuters) — Ukraine has resumed the transit of Russian gas to European consumers at normal volumes after a 23% fall caused by an explosion at Austria’s Baumgarten gas hub, the Ukrainian energy ministry said on Wednesday.

Maksim Belyavsky, aide to Ukraine’s energy minister, told Reuters Ukraine is pumping to Europe around 260 million cubic metres of gas per day.

The explosion on Tuesday killed one person and injured at least 18 others, prompting Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the strategic site were cut off. It also disrupted deliveries to Austria’s southern and southeastern borders.

The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria, near Slovakia, is a major regional transfer point, taking natural gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbors including Germany and Italy, its biggest recipient.

Russia pumped 85.5 Bcm of gas via Ukraine in the first 11 mos of this year, 16% more than in the same period of 2016.

Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle

Comments

{{ error }}
{{ comment.comment.Name }} • {{ comment.timeAgo }}
{{ comment.comment.Text }}