* Pipeline exports boosted by Ukraine transit hike
* German receipts steady via Nord Stream, Yamal
* Recent hub rise boosts oil-indexed competitiveness
The amount of natural gas exported from Russia via the Nord Steam, Yamal, and Brotherhood pipelines combined rose to a record high Monday as gas transit via Ukraine increased, data from Platts Analytics' Eclipse Energy showed Tuesday.
Total Russian pipeline gas exports via Nord Stream, Yamal, and Brotherhood hit 360 million cu m Monday, above the previous record high of 357 million cu m from early September and over 15% higher than the 313 million cu m from October 10, 2015.
The record daily high has been achieved by an increase in Russian gas transit via the Brotherhood pipeline, taking Russian gas to the Slovakian border via Ukraine, which increased to 153 million cu m on Monday.
Russian gas transit via Ukraine neared a three-year high in early September of 195 million cu m/d on Nord Stream maintenance, but averaged 136 million cu m/d in August and 102 million cu m/d in July, with Russia attempting to reduce gas transit flows via Ukraine.
Indeed, Russian state-owned Gazprom is pressing ahead with plans for both the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines, which if realized, would see Russian gas able to bypass Ukraine into Europe.
But with these pipelines still several years away from being put into operation and oil-indexed prices competitive with hub pricing this winter, Russia has had to increase reliance on Ukrainian transit to boost flow rates.
Flows through the Yamal pipeline are limited to 87 million cu m/d due to the pipeline's capacity, and flows through Nord Stream have been capped at about 120 million cu m/d due to restrictions in place regarding capacity on the OPAL pipeline, with the Brotherhood pipeline currently the swing factor in Russian gas exports.
Russian gas flows through the Brotherhood pipeline so far this year of 34.42 Bcm have already moved well ahead of the 2014 total of 29.79 Bcm and are closing in on the 2015 total of 36.25 Bcm.
Moreover, in 2014, Brotherhood flows accounted for 32% of pipeline exports for Nord Stream, Yamal and Brotherhood combined, but increased to account for 35% in 2015 and 39% for the January 1-October 10 period this year.
In 2011, Brotherhood flows totaled 66.19 Bcm and accounted for 73% of all Russian pipeline gas exports through the three pipelines.
