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.



Typhoon Yagi Leaves at Least 4 Dead in Vietnam

Water is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong on September 7, 2024. (Photo by NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
Water is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong on September 7, 2024. (Photo by NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
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Typhoon Yagi Leaves at Least 4 Dead in Vietnam

Water is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong on September 7, 2024. (Photo by NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)
Water is whipped up by high winds onto the shore of Phuong Luu lake as Super Typhoon Yagi hits Hai Phong on September 7, 2024. (Photo by NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)

Vietnamese authorities say Typhoon Yagi has killed at least four people and injured 78 others after making landfall Saturday afternoon in the north of the country.
Yagi, described by Vietnamese meteorological officials as “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade,” made its way to the Southeast Asian country after it left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the Chinese province of Hainan.
The typhoon landed at Vietnam's coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), state media reported. Before landing, strong winds felled a tree, killing a woman in the capital, Hanoi, local media said Saturday.
Quang Ninh is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, known for its many towering limestone islands. Hundreds of cruises were canceled at the popular site before the typhoon landed, according to local media. Haiphong is an industrial hub, home to large factories, including EV maker VinFast and Apple supplier Pegatron.
The typhoon has also triggered power outages in large parts of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh provinces.
Earlier, the government issued several alerts, and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in Hanoi, and Haiphong.
Authorities pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities. Local media reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea.
On Friday afternoon, Yagi struck the Chinese city of Wenchang in Hainan province with wind speeds of up to about 245 kph (152 mph) near its center. Authorities said the typhoon left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the province. It has affected over 1.2 million people as of noon Saturday, according to the local Global Times newspaper.
Some 420,000 Hainan residents were relocated before the typhoon's landfall. Another half a million people in Guangdong province were evacuated before Yagi made a second landfall in the province's Xuwen County on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the meteorological observatory of the city of Haikou downgraded its typhoon signal from red to orange on Saturday, as it moved further away.
Before leaving Hong Kong, Yagi forced more than 270 people to seek refuge at temporary government shelters on Friday, and over 100 flights in the city were canceled due to the typhoon. Heavy rain and strong winds felled dozens of trees, and trading on the stock market, bank services and schools were halted.
Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding and affecting more than 2.3 million people in northern and central provinces.
More than 82,200 people were displaced from their homes in Philippine provinces, and classes, work, inter-island ferry services and domestic flights were disrupted for days, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila.

Typhoons are becoming stronger, fueled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say.
Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
Yagi is named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation of Capricornus.