Russian Gas Flows East via Yamal-Europe Pipeline for Fifth Day

A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
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Russian Gas Flows East via Yamal-Europe Pipeline for Fifth Day

A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

The Yamal-Europe pipeline that usually sends Russian gas to Western Europe was operating in a reverse mode for a fifth day on Saturday, shipping fuel from Germany to Poland, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

Russian gas exporter Gazprom did not book gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Sunday as well, auction results showed.

European gas prices climbed to a record high this week after Yamal switched direction but eased on Friday.

Russia said the flow reversal was not a political move, though it coincides with rising tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the reversal was because of a lack of requests from buyers, Reuters reported.

Putin also said on Friday that Russia was "sidelined" by Poland in managing the pipeline and Europe had only itself to blame for soaring gas prices.

Flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border were going east into Poland at an hourly volume of more than 1.1 million kilowatt hours (kWh/h) on Saturday and were expected to stay at these levels during the day, the data shows.

Putin has also said that Germany was reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine rather than relieving an overheated market.

Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov told the NTV channel that the company was ready to supply additional gas within its long-term contracts, which would be cheaper than short-term deals concluded on European spot market.

Reverse flows from Germany to Poland - and probably to Ukraine as well - stand at between 3 million cubic metres (mcm) and 5 mcm per day, he said, reiterating that accusations that Gazprom was undersupplying gas are "groundless".

Kupriyanov added that the gas is being taken off underground storage facilities that are already depleted.

Data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed capacity nominations for Saturday's Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point were at 747,031 megawatt hours (MWh), slightly up from Friday's 739,843 MWh but below levels in recent weeks.

That drop was being balanced by higher nominations for flows from the Czech Republic to Slovakia, meaning that nominations for flows from Slovakia to Austrian hub Baumgarten were roughly stable compared with levels in recent days and weeks.



Iran Says Technical Nuclear Meeting with US Postponed to Saturday

People walk past shops in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, 21 April 2025. (EPA)
People walk past shops in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, 21 April 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Says Technical Nuclear Meeting with US Postponed to Saturday

People walk past shops in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, 21 April 2025. (EPA)
People walk past shops in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, 21 April 2025. (EPA)

Iran's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a technical, expert-level nuclear meeting with the United States will be held on Saturday, several days after the date initially planned.

"Following Oman's proposal and the agreement of the Iranian and American delegations, the technical consultative meeting between the two countries, which was to be held as part of the indirect talks between the two sides on Wednesday, has been postponed to Saturday," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.

US President Donald Trump has been seeking an agreement that would curb Iran's nuclear program, which Washington believes is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon.

American and Iranian officials have so far held two rounds of talks, one in Muscat and the second in Rome.

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal is reached; Iran denies seeking atomic weapons.