Ukraine Will Block A Crucial Russian Gas Transit to Europe, Blaming Russia

Ukraine said on Tuesday that it will cease the flow of gas via a transit point that, according to Kiev, sends over one-third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine. Kiev blamed Moscow for the action and said it would redirect the flows elsewhere.

Even after Moscow's invasion, Ukraine has remained a significant transit route for Russian gas to Europe.

The operator of Ukraine's gas infrastructure, GTSOU, has declared "force majeure" and will cease shipments through the Sokhranivka route as of Wednesday. "Force majeure" is a provision triggered when a firm is affected by circumstances beyond its control.

However, Gazprom (MCX:GAZP), which has a monopoly on Russian gas pipeline exports, said that it was "technologically impossible" to move all volumes to the Sudzha connecting point farther to the west, as GTSOU requested.

GTSOU CEO Sergiy Makogon told Reuters that Russian occupation troops have begun transporting gas flowing through Ukraine to two rebel territories supported by Russia in the country's east. He failed to provide proof.

The company stated that it was unable to operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to "the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes," adding that it could temporarily redirect the affected flow to the Sudzha physical interconnection point, which is located on Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine's suspension of Russian natural gas shipments via the Sokhranivka route should have no effect on the local Ukrainian market, according to Yuriy Vitrenko, the president of the state-owned energy business Naftogaz.

The national gas company of Moldova, a tiny country on Ukraine's western border, said that neither GTSOU nor Gazprom had notified them of a supply interruption.

Russian army and separatist militants have controlled the Novopskov compressor station in the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine since shortly after Moscow launched a "special military operation" in February.

GTSOU said that it is the first compressor in the Ukraine gas transit system in the Luhansk area, the transit route for about 32,6 million cubic metres of gas per day, or a third of the Russian gas transported to Europe through Ukraine.

To fulfill its "transit responsibilities to European partners in full," GTSOU said that it will "temporarily move unavailable capacity" to the Sudzha interconnection point.

Gazprom said it had received information from Ukraine that the nation will cease gas transit to Europe through the Sokhranivka interconnector at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday local time.

The Russian corporation said that it observed no evidence of force majeure or impediments to business as usual. Gazprom emphasized that it was fulfilling its commitments to European gas purchasers.

As punishment for the invasion of Ukraine, the United States has pushed other nations to reduce their reliance on Russian energy and has prohibited Russian oil and other energy imports.

Ned Price, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said that Tuesday's declaration does not alter the "as soon as feasible" schedule for reducing global dependency on Russian oil.