Norway’s gas exports to Europe down 6.4%, but ready to rise, Gassco CEO says

Piped exports of natural gas from Norway to Europe are down 6.4% year-on-year due to a higher level of maintenance, but the country is ready to supply the gas needed for winter, the head of pipeline system operator Gassco told Reuters.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reduced shipments of Russian gas, Norway has become Europe’s largest gas supplier.

Its pipeline operator Gassco delivers gas to receiving terminals in Belgium, Britain, France and Germany and, as of late 2022, also to Poland, via Denmark.

“When we enter the new gas year on Oct. 1, you will see that the Norwegian system is ready, and you will see a higher volume if the market wants it,” Gassco CEO Frode Leversund said in an exclusive interview.

Last year, Norwegian producers and Gassco postponed some maintenance as it sought to calm a European gas market that surged to record levels because of the disruption linked to the Ukraine war.

This year, there has been more scheduled work, but gas prices, although much lower, have been supported by unplanned delays and nervousness about strike action in large liquefied natural gas producer Australia.

Pipeline deliveries via Gassco’s system between January and August totalled 73 billion cubic metres (bcm), down from 78 bcm in the same period a year ago, Leversund said, in the first official confirmation of Gassco’s delivery data for 2023.

The European benchmark front month contract TRNLTTFMc1 at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub is trading around 40 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), up from below 30 euros seen before Norwegian maintenance that started in August.

In early September, Norwegian flows fell to their lowest in at least a decade, LSEG data showed. Gassco said it was not yet able to provide data for this month.

But Leversund said the maintenance programme was largely completed and deliveries were rising.

“So, if the market wants the regular volumes of Norwegian supplies for the winter, we will be able to deliver those volumes as we did last year,” he said.

“I will not give an accurate figure for 2023. But if I assume normal deliveries from Norway during the winter, compared to last year, I think we will see a level around the average of the past 10 years,” Leversund said.

Last year, Gassco delivered 116.9 billion cubic metres bcm of natural gas through its 8,800-km (5468-mile) pipeline network, up from 113.2 bcm in 2021, but short of a 117.4 bcm record set in 2017.

Between 2013 and 2022, Gassco deliveries averaged just over 109 bcm per year, a Reuters calculation found.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)