Data from Norwegian gas system operator Gassco shows that in the early afternoon of June 18, the Nyhamna plant in Norway was unable to put into operation to treat gas due to power outages during uncertain times at the shore facility.
Of the total technical capacity of 79.8 million cubic meters of the factory, there is about a capacity of 33.8 million cubic meters that have not been operated as of 3:00 p.m. on June 18, local time. The morning of June 19 is temporarily considered the end of the factory's operation period due to a power outage.
The latest outage came after the Nyhamna plant went into a few days of operation in early June due to the sleipner offshore wind farm in Norway closing.
The sleipner Riser is a point of connection for gas pipelines connecting the Nyhamna plant on the west coast of Norway to the Easington port warehouse in England.
The sudden shutdown of the Norwegian gas plant highlights Europe's vulnerability to gas imports. Norway has become Europe's leading gas supplier after the conflict in Ukraine and gas exports from Russia - the EU's main former supply - have declined.
The outage at sleipner's plant caused the Dutch TTF gas price under a futures contract - the reference standard for European gas trading - to increase by 10% in just one day on June 3, to a 6-month high.
On June 7, Gassco informed that the repair of the sleipner Riser terminal has been completed, and the gas flow to the Easington port warehouse in the UK has been restored.
Oilprice.com pointed out that supply risks have continuously put pressure on European gas prices. European gas prices have surged twice in June as the market fears supply shocks.
European gas prices increased once due to the outage of sleipner Riser and increased for the second time at 3% in the middle of last week after German energy giant Uniper terminated its gas supply contract with Gazprom.
Uniper's announcement and a recent warning from OMV from Austria that Gazprom could stop supplying gas to Austria as a foreign court ruling could disrupt OMV's payments to Gazprom have raised concerns about further impact on gas supplies in Europe.
