Gazprom announced the delivery of 40.7 million m³ of gas to Europe on January 2, via Ukrainian territory. Despite the drop in supplies to Europe since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian gas production continues to grow. The Russian giant has turned its attention to Asia.
As the new year begins, Gazprom continues to deliver blue gold to Europe via Ukraine. “Gazprom supplies Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine in the quantity approved by the Ukrainian side via the Sudzha pumping station,” a company spokesman announced on January 2, quoted by TASS. “The volume is 40.7 million m³ as of January 2”, he added. This volume is similar to that of the previous day and to previous daily releases from the end of December.
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Although the Russian offensive in Ukraine has not stopped the supply of Russian gas to Europe via Ukrainian territory, it seems to be on hold. The current five-year transit contract expires at the end of 2024. At the end of October, in an interview with Radio Free Europe, a media outlet financed by the US Congress, the head of Naftogaz Ukraine announced that he would not be renewing the contract with Gazprom.
Moscow, for its part, intends to stand by its commitments. “Regardless of the political situation, Russian companies strive to regularly fulfill all their obligations to counterparties in Europe for the supply of energy resources,” assured Dmitry Birichevsky, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Economic Cooperation Department, in an interview with RIA Novosti published on December 30.
On December 14, at his annual press conference, Vladimir Putin had declared: “Gazprom is a reliable partner, it will always respect its obligations”, thus justifying Russia’s uninterrupted supply of gas to Europe. “This includes transit through Ukrainian territory,” he continued. “By the way, we are paid for this, and Ukraine also receives money for transit.”
Asia, the new outlet for Russian energies
A policy pursued despite Western sanctions targeting Russian energy resources. However, while Russian gas exports to the European Union have fallen drastically – by almost 56% by 2023 according to Reuters – exports to other world markets have risen sharply.
On December 26, during a meeting with the Russian president, Gazprom boss Alexeï Miller reported a 50% year-on-year increase in gas exports to China. These have risen from 15.5 billion m³ in 2022 to 23.2 billion in 2023. This shift towards the Chinese market is set to increase with the construction of the 50 billion m³ “Siberian Force 2” pipeline by 2030.
According to Alexander Novak, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister in charge of energy, the Chinese market will absorb almost half of Russia’s energy exports by 2023. “The main partners in the current situation are China, whose share has risen to around 45-50%, and, of course, India,” the politician said on Rossiya 24 on December 27.
In the gas sector, Russian production has even risen by 6.4%, noted the business daily Kommersant on December 28, attributing this result to “increased production by Gazprom” and the “Sakhalin-1” oil and gas project.
Source of the news: https://francais.rt.com
