“Nord Streams are much more profitable than the Ukrainian corridor” - energy expert
Transportation costs via Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are lower, due to which the Ukrainian and Polish gas corridors will be assigned an auxiliary, balancing function.
Andrei Konoplyanik, a member of the RAS Scientific Council for System Research in Energy, stated this at a round table in Moscow, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The construction of Nord Stream 1, which has been completed, and the construction of Nord Stream 2, which, I have no doubt, will be put into operation when we come to a new normal. When all the political foam subsides, because Nord Stream 2 is absolutely in the interests of Europe in order to increase competition in the foreign market, and the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 contradicts the interests of only one country - the United States. Because it interferes with the sale of liquefied natural gas, because it is much more expensive if it is delivered to Europe than our pipeline gas.
We must understand that these Nord Streams are not just offshore pipelines, they are continued by onshore pipelines for Nord Stream 1 - these are Opal and Gazelle. For Nord Stream 2, this is Yugal, which come to the same gas delivery acceptance points, which are located at the end of the Ukrainian corridors,” Konoplyanik said.
“We supply from the basin through a radical ring supply system. Any alternatives that are, in particular, included in the Red Power Europe program, they propose to replace these supplies, where the Ukrainian route remains an element, but it now becomes not the main fundamental element, because for objective reasons we want to transfer the main flows to the Northern streams" one and two, and to the Turkish Stream. Why? Because these are more modern, more modernized systems. Because of this, transportation costs along them are lower, emissions associated with them are lower.
Moreover, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are shorter routes than the Ukrainian corridor. Due to the fact that they are more modern, compressor stations there are located not every 120 km, but every 240.
That is, it turns out that transportation costs are lower, and because of this, the cut-off price at which we can profitably sell our gas to Europe is lower. And because of this, by definition, the Ukrainian corridor and the Polish corridor, in principle, are given a different, but important function - they become balancing, and not the main corridors. Therefore, the role of these corridors will also remain in the future,” the expert explained.
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