New US sanctions against Russia may increase uncertainty on European gas markets, international rating agency S&P Global Ratings said in a statement.
S&P Global Ratings said it currently believes that if, as a result of new sanctions, Gazprom needs to fund new pipeline construction on its own, the company can absorb the financial impact without damaging its creditworthiness.
The rating agency said that if sanctions resulted in delays or abandonment of new pipelines projects, gas prices could grow, the gas supplies from Russia would risk being interrupted and the usage of underground gas storage and liquefied natural gas could increase.
"It is still unclear how the sanctions might be put in place. However, we do not anticipate any material implications for the functioning and development of the gas pipeline system in Europe, because this would go against the interests of many important European market players," Sputnik cited the agency as saying.
The director of the Center for Studies of World Energy Markets at the RAS Institute of Energy Research, Vyacheslav Kulagin, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that we should not expect any interruptions in the supply of Russian gas to Europe. "S&P outlined the risks and uncertainties, which may be caused by the new sanctions. But the sanctions do not limit the gas trade on one or another route. That is, for example, we cannot say that that supplies via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline may be interrupted because of sanctions. Now, the main question is whether the sanctions will affect the investment in pipeline capacity," he pointed out.
Moreover, the wording of the law allows one to expect that the sanctions may not be enforced. "They automatically involve nothing until the US president decides to introduce them in relation to a particular project. Only if the US president says that some company violates the sanctions, there will be certain risks. But these are risks for new projects - for servicing and investment in the modernization of existing pipelines, but with a whole set of reservations," Vyacheslav Kulagin stressed.
It is also safe to say that Europe will react toughly to every Washington's decision on sanctions. "Europe will not be able to forgive it the restriction of cooperation with Russian companies and sanctions against European companies for participating in gas supply projects to European countries. Of course, it creates difficulties for the implementation of projects, in particular, it will be more difficult to negotiate with potential participants. But problems will arise only after a strict application of sanctions, and if it happens, a serious sanctions war between the EU and the US is inevitable. The Europeans have already made it clear to the US what consequences it may face, therefore, sanctions is just an additional point in the risks," the expert believes.
The director of the Center for Studies of World Energy Markets at the RAS Institute of Energy Research added that, among other things, the new sanction law creates risks to transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. "The fact is that Ukrainian transit is also the supply of Russian gas to Europe. Whoever invests in the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transportation system can also be sanctioned," he said.
