MOSCOW: Russian natural gas supplies through the Yamal - Europe pipeline via Poland to Germany came to a halt on Saturday, data from a German pipeline operator showed, but Russia's Gazprom said European customers' requests were being fulfilled.
Russia sends gas to Western Europe by several different routes, including through Belarus and Poland using the Yamal - Europe pipeline, which has an annual capacity of up to 33 billion cubic metres.
Flows at the Mallnow metering point in Germany, which lies at the Polish border, stopped early on Saturday, according to data from Germany's Gascade operator.
Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom said the requests of customers in Europe were being met. It added that fluctuations in demand for Russian gas were dependent on the "actual needs" of the buyers.
A spokesman for Poland's state-controlled gas giant PGNiG said flows from the east were much lower than usual, but Poland was still receiving amounts consistent with its contract. Russian gas export flows have been closely watched as gas prices in Europe have soared amid economic recovery and low inventories.
Gazprom has been accused by the International Energy Agency and some European lawmakers of not doing enough to increase its natural gas supplies to Europe, but the Russian company has said it has been meeting its contractual obligations. A gas transit deal between Russia and Poland expired last year, but Gazprom can book the transit capacity via the pipeline at auctions.
At the last auction on Oct. 18, Gazprom booked some 32 million cubic metres per day, or 35% of total additional capacity offered by the Polish operator Gas System for transit via the Kondratki transit point for November.
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