Despite the massive price spikes, Moscow has not been supplying more gas than contractually agreed for a good year.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf The fear of a stop to Russian natural gas deliveries is great. In fact, since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, exactly the opposite is happening. Russian gas deliveries to Germany have increased significantly since Thursday. “We see a strong increase. Almost twice as much natural gas is now coming from Russia via the Ukraine to Slovakia as it was two days ago,” explains energy analyst Andreas Schroeder from the market research institute Icis. The reason: “Russian gas is currently cheaper than the gas that is traded on the stock exchange,” says Schroeder.
The at first glance paradoxical situation can be explained by the structure of the European gas market. This stands on two pillars. Large utilities such as Uniper and Wintershall have framework agreements with Gazprom, the large Russian gas producer. These contracts give companies the right to purchase certain quantities at a fixed price mechanism over a certain period of time.
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