Gazprom’s Natural Gas Exports Plummet By 43%

Russian giant Gazprom saw its natural gas exports to customers outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) plunge by 43% between January and October as Russia drastically cut its pipeline gas deliveries to Europe.

Gazprom’s gas supply to countries other than CIS members – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – averaged 91.2 bcm to its other customers in Europe and Asia, the Russian state firm said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday quoted by Montel.

Gazprom’s natural gas production dropped by almost 19% in the ten months to October compared to the same period of last year. 

Of course, the major drop in Gazprom’s gas deliveries to key customers was due to the halt of Russian gas exports to nearly all European countries. Weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia cut off supply to Poland, Bulgaria, and Finland. Several weeks later, Gazprom started to reduce supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany in June, claiming an inability to service gas turbine maintenance outside Russia due to the Western sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. Gazprom said in early September that Nord Stream would remain shut until “operational defects in the equipment are eliminated,” upping the ante in its gas war against Europe. 

At the end of September, gas leaks were detected from the now-shut Nord Stream 1, as well as its twin pipeline Nord Stream 2, which was never put into operation. The lines were found to have been sabotaged, and earlier this week, Russia accused the British Navy of blowing up the pipelines.

Gazprom said today that demand for its gas had dropped, especially in Europe, which accounted for most of the decline in global gas consumption between January and October.

Soaring gas prices and Europe’s efforts to replace Russian gas deliveries have forced many industries to curtail or halt operations as energy costs have surged.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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