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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
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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.

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India Says Pakistan Nuclear Arsenal Should Be under UN Surveillance

Indian ruling party rally in New Delhi. Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP
Indian ruling party rally in New Delhi. Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP
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India Says Pakistan Nuclear Arsenal Should Be under UN Surveillance

Indian ruling party rally in New Delhi. Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP
Indian ruling party rally in New Delhi. Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal should be under the surveillance of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said Thursday, following a four-day conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi last week.

Pakistan did not immediately respond to Singh's comments, which came as the nuclear-armed rivals ended their worst military conflict in nearly three decades with a ceasefire announcement on Saturday, AFP said.

"I wanted to raise this question for the world: are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of a rogue and irresponsible nation?" Singh told troops at a base in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir.

"I believe that Pakistan's atomic weapons should be brought under the surveillance of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," Singh added.

The latest conflict between India and Pakistan had sparked global concerns that it could spiral into a full-blown war.

Fighting began when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it said were "terrorist camps" in Pakistan following an April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 26 people were killed.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it claimed were behind the attack -- the deadliest on civilians in Kashmir in decades. Pakistan denies the charge.

Four days of intense tit-for-tat drone, missile and artillery exchanges ensued, leaving nearly 70 people, including dozens of civilians, dead on both sides.

Not on the table

Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers and members of the IAEA, which regulates the use of nuclear weapons.

India has developed nuclear weapons since the 1990s in the form of intermediate-range ground-to-ground missiles. Long-range missiles are currently being tested, according to experts.

Pakistan has developed short- and intermediate-range ground-to-ground and air-to-ground nuclear missiles that can carry warheads.

Pakistani ministers have repeatedly said the nuclear option was not on the table. They also stressed on Saturday that its nuclear governmental body was not summoned at any point in the recent conflict.

Pakistani military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters on Sunday that escalating conflict between "rival nuclear powers" was "inconceivable and sheer stupidity".

"That conflict can lead to the peril of 1.6 billion people, so in reality there is no space for war between India and Pakistan," Chaudhry said.

In a speech this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail."

India had earlier denied targeting Pakistan's nuclear installations during the brief conflict.

"We have not hit Kirana Hills," Indian Air Marshal A.K. Bharti told reporters, referring to a vast rocky mountain range where, according to Indian media reports, Pakistan stores its nuclear arsenal.

Fearing further escalation, global leaders had urged restraint from the arch-enemies with US President Donald Trump announcing the surprise truce.

The ceasefire has held since the weekend, following initial claims of violations from both sides.

Militant encounter

However, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a telephone call with UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, expressed "concerns over the continued provocative and inflammatory remarks by Indian leadership, as a threat to the fragile regional peace", his office said in a statement.

Militants have stepped up operations on the Indian side of Kashmir since 2019, when Modi's Hindu nationalist government revoked the region's limited autonomy and imposed direct rule from New Delhi.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir meanwhile said they killed three suspected militants on Thursday in the town of Tral, in Pulwama district south of Srinagar, the region's main city.

"All the three militants involved in the encounter in Tral were killed," a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The officer said that they were not linked to the deadly April attack against tourists near Pahalgam.

Police also said three other suspected militants died in a gun battle with soldiers on Tuesday in the southern Kashmir valley.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, which have fought several wars over the territory since their 1947 independence from British rule.