UK halts gas supplies to Europe due to equipment failure: Reports
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Bloomberg reports that gas deliveries from the UK had declined even before the failure in the equipment.
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A view of hardware of the Jauniunai Gas Compressor station, near Vilnius, Lithuania, ON May 5, 2022 (AP)
The United Kingdom has suspended gas supplies to Europe via one of the key pipelines, Interconnector, following equipment failure, possibly until March 8, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing the operator.
The pipeline delivers gas to mainland Europe via Belgium, and it has become a progressively significant energy source after "severe cuts" in exports from Russia, the report said.
However, the newspaper reported that gas deliveries from the UK had declined even before the failure in the equipment since the country's domestic market required more fuel due to a cold snap.
Read: EU gas provisioning of 15% 'still not safe': German state secretary
However, halting gas supplies through the Interconnector is unlikely to have an important impact on the energy situation in Europe, since European natural gas storage is more than 60 percent full as of March 1, its highest seasonal level on record, according to data published by the Association of European gas infrastructure operators on Saturday.
The association, known as Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), estimated the volume of gas still in storage at 66.
One billion cubic meters, double the volume retained at the end of the last heating season when gas levels fell in mid-December below 60 percent.
During the 2019-2020 heating season, when demand was low, Europe's gas storage levels were around 60 percent. Since 2011, these are the largest volumes ever stored.
Earlier this week, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson stated that the mandated consumption cuts allowed the European Union to reduce Russian pipeline gas imports, despite purchasing nearly double the amount of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2022 bought the previous year.
Last month, European Union member states agreed on price caps for Russian petroleum products ahead of an international embargo, Swedish officials said.
The agreement aims to target Russia's key exports and is the latest part of international pressure to limit Russian President Vladimir Putin's reserve of funds for his war in Ukraine.
In December, the EU imposed an embargo on Russian crude oil coming in by sea and agreed with its G7 partners to impose a price cap on Russian oil at $60 per barrel.
However, it was revealed in mid-January that the US was hesitant to approve a lower price cap on Russian oil, despite some EU countries urging for directing further cuts to Russia's energy profits.
