Gran artículo en seeking alpha:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/419111 ... an-weather
En resumen, el clima sigue jugando a favor de Gazprom. La ola de calor genera consumos records de electricidad que es mejor generarla con gas antes que con carbón. Los vientos están muy calmos creando baja generación de energía eólica. Gazprom es el único que puede responder rápidamente ante los cambios climáticos (los envíos de LNG siempre tardan y deben ser pedidos con antelación, etc, Gazprom instantáneamente puede aumentar la producción). Gazprom es la única que puede asegurar la seguridad energética en Europa.
Esto debería ayudar a la conclusión del Nord Stream 2.
Summary
A late winter cold spell in March left European gas storage facilities empty. A recent heat wave in Western Europe is preventing storage levels from increasing to an adequate level.
Lower storage levels compared with recent years despite record imports from Gazprom. This ensures continued robust Gazprom exports to Europe for rest of the year.
Beyond the benefits of higher sales, a realization of the need to have a supplier, which can increase supply on short notice will benefit Gazprom for decades to come.
Earlier this year I wrote an article titled: "Christmas In March For Gazprom" (OTCPK:OGZPY), in response to the weather situation in Europe. A late winter deep freeze left the EU with depleted natural gas storage facilities, even as Gazprom was setting daily delivery records almost every day that month. It was the prompt response of Gazprom to the sudden depletion of European natural gas stockpiles, which helped the continent avoid outright shortages, which would have caused European industry to grind to a halt. As a result, even though it will never be publicly stated, I do believe that most of the European elites realized just how important it is for the economic well-being of the continent to have reliable pipeline facilities connecting the EU to Russia.
Reality was that no other major natural gas supplier but Gazprom was able to significantly increase supplies volumes on such short notice. So aside from Gazprom registering record sales, with demand set to be higher for the rest of the year as depleted storage has to be filled, it also ensured that West European support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project will remain steadfast. After all, chances are that if the EU is facing a harsh winter, so would currently significant transit country Ukraine, which might not always have the financial means to pay for extra imports, therefore it would not be in the interests of EU energy security to be overly dependent on Ukraine as a transit country. This was the situation after the March cold spell, while now it seems that global weather patterns are about to hand Gazprom another victory, as Western Europe copes with a massive heat wave.
Europe's heat wave set to greatly increase natural gas demand this summer.
After the March deep freeze, this is now the period when the completely depleted natural gas storage facilities need to be replenished in order to get ready for winter. Given the extra demand that is being generated by extreme heat, that may not be happening as planned.
The last time European natural gas storage was bellow current levels, for this time of the year, it was 2013 and Europe was still in recession, so it did not need a lot of natural gas stored in order to cope with demand. Aside from the fact that storage levels in March dropped to a low level that was not experienced this decade, I think the current heat wave is also impeding Europe from catching up in terms of filling its storage facilities.
For those who are relatively familiar with Europe, it might not be hard to figure out that the area currently being affected by the heat wave is in fact the area that is most densely populated as well as industrially most active. What this means is increased electricity use on the continent overall. To make matters worse, wind electricity generation levels were reported to have been rather low about a month ago, even as the continent was already heating up. In other words, not just the heat, but also wind patterns are playing in Gazprom's favor this summer as the heat puts extra demand on electricity, which can only be met with gas or coal power generation. Coal is never a preferable choice to gas because it pollutes more, therefore natural gas demand in Europe is likely to be higher this summer.
Gazprom's exports to the EU have been going strong for the first half of this year, with Germany receiving 12.2% more gas than it did in the first half of 2017. Austria, which is a major EU gas hub received 52.3% more, while Netherlands received 62% more. I should note that Netherlands imports from Russia are rising in large part due to collapsing domestic production. Just over half a decade ago Netherlands production accounted for about half of total EU domestic production. As things stand right now, its production declined by almost 40 Bcm/year, to just over half of what it was back in 2010. This fact is worth mentioning, because perhaps even more than Europe's economic recovery, it helped contribute to Gazprom's increased exports to the EU through this decade.
With domestic EU production in long-term decline, Norwegian production flat for the past few years, and few other options to import, aside from generally more expensive LNG, I think Gazprom is set to continue having a good year, with the second half perhaps looking just as strong as the first half. If the current heat wave persists, or we get more such events for the rest of this summer it will prevent European storage facilities from filling fast enough to provide for a comfortable supply cushion for the winter. What this means is that extra demand for Gazprom exports to the EU will continue into the fall, and then depending on whether we will have another tough winter, it could go on into next year.
Aside from the immediate benefit that Gazprom gets this year, given increased sales, there is also the longer-term benefit derived from Gazprom cementing its role as the most important provider of EU natural gas supply security. It makes the narrative of Gazprom being a danger to EU security harder to defend, given that it was in fact Gazprom which made sure that there were no actual shortages of natural gas this year, which would have had a devastating impact on the EU economy if it would have occurred. It is also the main company that the EU has been relying on this spring and summer to provide elevated natural gas supplies in order to replenish those severely depleted stockpiles. I find it hard to see how the building of Nord Stream 2 as well as **** Stream can still be effectively opposed given these realities. While odds of these projects being fulfilled were already pretty good in my view, following this year's situation created mostly by weather-related factors, there is little chance of either of these projects being obstructed going forward. I really do believe that 2018 will be remembered as the year when Christmas came twice for Gazprom, once in March, on a severe late-winter cold front, and once in July, on the back of a heat wave. The gifts it received have an immediate effect on this year's results of the company, while the help this provided in securing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 and **** Stream pipelines, will benefit it for decades to come.