Cold nights in Europe, which are expected to last at least another week, are forcing consumers in the region to order more gas from Gazprom, which has again booked additional Yamal-Europe gas pipeline capacity for the coming night on top of the booking for the full gas day Friday.

Gazprom booked Yamal-Europe pipeline capacity to pump 0.8 million cubic meters of gas per hour for the March 4 gas day. But the reverse flow nomination from Germany to Poland was almost the same. The physical gas flow came to a halt on as a result of two almost identical nominations in opposite directions being fulfilled.

Gazprom booked an additional 1 mcm of capacity from 10:00 p.m. until the morning, according to the results of the nighttime booking auction on the GSA Platform.

Altogether this amounted to 46% of available Yamal-Europe pipeline capacity available for booking.

The 2,000-km pipeline from Torzhok, Russia to Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany can carry around 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year or 100 mcm per day.

In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, which the market believes is increasing the risks of this route with each passing day, Europe has seen colder weather this week and a steep drop in wind power generation. Another factor contributing to market tensions is uncertainty concerning Russian coal shipments to Europe.