No Russian gas auctions scheduled on Gazprom Export's ESP for Nov. 8-12

Russia's Gazprom Export has not scheduled any auctions on its Electronic Sales Platform for the week Nov. 8-12, it said in an update on its website Nov. 8.

In an unusual move, the company said there were "no planned sales sessions" this week.

Gazprom Export launched the ESP in September 2018 as a tool to sell surplus gas into Europe outside of its traditional long-term contract model and has sold more than 51 Bcm of gas since its launch.

However, sales have slowed in recent months and since September all gas offered has been for longer-term delivery in either 2022 or 2023 to just two delivery points -- the German THE hub or the Austrian virtual trading point.

No sales have been recorded since Oct. 13 despite auctions being held across the remainder of the month.

It is unclear whether no sales were made at those auctions or whether Gazprom Export has not updated the results, with the company unable to comment further.

However, it is not unusual for the results to be updated at a later date.

The last scheduled auctions were for the week Oct. 25-29, with gas available for sale for delivery in either Q3 2022 or for Calendar Year 2023 to the THE and Austrian VTP hubs.

No auctions were scheduled for the week Nov. 1-5 due to a public holiday in Russia.

October sales

Sales in October, according to the latest results, totaled just 168 million cu m, which would be the lowest ever volume sold in a calendar month, lower even than the sales in the first month of operation in September 2018.

Gazprom has come in for criticism for not increasing supply to Europe at a time of sky-high gas prices, but the company has repeatedly said it has been meeting all of its customer obligations in full.

S&P Global Platts assessed the benchmark TTF day-ahead price at a record high of Eur116.10/MWh Oct. 5, with price volatility continuing through October and into November.

The TTF day-ahead price was assessed at Eur73.20/MWh Nov. 5, up by 408% from a year ago.