Russian gas supply to EU via Ukraine steady amid row with OMV

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine were stable on Wednesday, data from Kremlin-controlled producer Gazprom showed, with nominations for flows to Austria from Slovakia also unchanged.

Gazprom halted supply to Austria’s OMV on Saturday over a contractual dispute, the Vienna-based company said, while Gazprom has not commented.

It is not clear where the gas volumes intended for OMV have been redirected.

Slovak state-owned firm SPP has said it was still receiving gas from Russia and suggested others were buying more because there was still “great interest” in Russian gas in Europe.

Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, the same volume as on Tuesday.

Nominations, or requests, for flows to Austria from Slovakia were stable versus Tuesday levels, at about 13% below levels seen before Russia halted gas supplies to OMV. Nominations to the Czech Republic from Slovakia were in line with levels seen this month.

Nominations for gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine were steady versus previous days while nominations for flows leaving Slovakia were also little changed, data from transmission system operator Eustream showed.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by Tom Hogue and Jason Neely)