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Europe has claims to quality of Russian gas

Dutch Neterlandse Gasunie has demanded from Gazprom to ensure gas oxygen content at the end of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in German Greifswald at no more than 10 ppm a day

Europeans complain of poor quality of gas supplied by Russian Gazprom, and are preparing a uniform standard, 20 times stricter than GOST (All Union State Standard), the Vedomosti daily writes.

Dutch Neterlandse Gasunie has demanded from Gazprom to ensure gas oxygen content at the end of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in German Greifswald at no more than 10 ppm (parts per million) a day. Exceptions are possible but no more than five times a year, a person familiar with materials for Gazprom’s board of directors told the newspaper. Greifswald is the end point of Nord Stream, here Gazprom must pass gas to the client. Dutchmen believe that a high content of oxygen in Gazprom’s gas accelerates corrosion in underground gas storages and in gas transmission equipment.

Information about claims of Dutchmen to Gazprom was confirmed to the Vedomosti by a person close to one of Gazprom agencies, and he also pledged that the existing oxygen content in Gazprom’s gas cannot harm the European equipment. Gazprom adheres to Russian GOST demands, oxygen content in gas does not exceed 0.02 percent mole fraction (200 ppm). A Gazprom representative is confident that export gas fully meets the contract figures.

A Gasunie specialist refused to comment. As a representative of Gazprom’s European client explained, the problem of high oxygen content is acute, Gazprom is well aware of it and negotiations are underway. “The difference in the standards of gas quality in Russia and Eastern Europe is discussed by officials and representatives of several European associations,” Tatyana Brown from Gascade Gastransport GmbH reports, but oxygen is not the only claim to the Russian gas.

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