Europe is the second largest buyer of Russian gas after China. “Gazprom” exports to European countries increased by 26%

Europe still remains roughly on par with China in imports of pipeline gas from Russiaʼs “Gazprom” PJSC, even two years after Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine cut energy supplies to the West.

This is reported by Bloomberg.

Even despite the sanctions, Russia still supplies significant volumes of gas to some European countries, and this year the volume actually increased. At the same time, Moscow has not concluded any new agreements to increase its sales to China beyond what was already planned.

“Gazprom” pipeline gas deliveries to its European customers reached 14.6 billion cubic meters from January to June, according to Bloomberg calculations based on flows through Ukraine and the “Turkish Stream” gas pipeline. Although this is still significantly less than the pre-war annual sales volume of 130-170 billion cubic meters.

At the same time, the Russian gas giant sold 15.2 billion cubic meters to China in the first half of this year, according to calculations based on Chinese customs data and estimates by the Russian Ministry of Economy.

After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, most EU countries sought alternative sources of gas, as Russia restricted supplies to the region in response to Kyivʼs support.

Norway currently supplies 30% of the blocʼs gas, but for some countries, including Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, “Gazprom” remains a critical source of energy and needs are growing. According to Bloomberg, in the first half of this year, as compared to the same period last year, deliveries to the region increased by more than 26%.

• At the beginning of this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is negotiating the supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. Ukraine seeks to maintain its role as a transit state, but no longer wants to be a transit for gas supplies to the EU from Russia.