Strong rise in European prices

European gas prices increased significantly yesterday as Ukrainian TSO failed to sell any of the total 63.7 mm cm/day interruptible capacity offered for May at the Sudzha interconnection point on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Gazprom not having booked any additional capacity, there is a risk that Russian flows at Velke Kapusany, at the Ukrainian-Slovakian border, will remain low (77 mm cm/day on average in April 2021 so far, compared to 107 mm cm/day in April 2020 and 108 mm cm/day in May 2020).

The rise in Asia JKM prices and parity prices with coal for power generation provided additional upward pressure.

On the pipeline supply side, Russian flows were slightly up yesterday, at 330 mm cm/day on average (of which 77 mm cm/day at Velke Kapusany), compared to 328 mm cm/day on Monday. Norwegian flows were slightly down, averaging 298 mm cm/day, compared to 300 mm cm/day on Monday