(Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday halted the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline designed to bring Russian gas to Germany, a measure widely considered the toughest Europe is likely to take against Moscow at this stage.
Following are reactions to the decision.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
“Nord Stream 2 is not yet functioning, is not supplying energy to Europe. It’s not a different source of energy, it’s a different pipeline for an existing supplier… There’s no change in the current situation.”
RUSSIAN ENERGY MINISTER
Russian energy minister Nikolay Shulginov said Europe would not be able to replace the large volumes of Russian natural gas with liquefied natural gas from different countries.
GAS ANALYST LEON IZBICKI, ENERGY ASPECTS
“We believe that Russia will meet contractual delivery obligations to Europe, which we peg at around 142 bcm but will not send volumes in excess of these.
“However, there still is a widely held belief in the market that Nord Stream 2’s certification would lead to incremental flows from Russia.
“Since certification of NS2 was only likely to take place in Q4-22 at the earliest, the announcement is impacting prices further along the curve more so than on the near curve.”
GAS MARKET REACTION
Prices rose on European markets, especially for gas delivery for later this year and into 2023.
The Dutch Q4 2022 price traded at 79.65 euros/MWh – up almost 12% compared with Monday.
The winter 2023 contract rose 13.8% to 51.88 euros/MWh
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; compiled by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
