European consumers will be hit hard and will have to pay more for natural gas if Ukraine does not extend the gas transit deal to allow Russian gas to pass through its territory en route to Europe, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Ukraine has already said on several occasions that it would not extend the current gas transit deal which expires on December 31, 2024. The latest such statement came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week when Zelensky said "No one will extend the agreement with Russia."
Ukraine, however, will consider requests from European companies for gas transit from other sources, the Ukrainian president added.
Speaking at a regular press conference on Wednesday, Russia's Peskov said that if Ukraine decides not to extend the gas transit deal, this will "seriously damage the interests of European consumers, who are still willing to buy more volumes of guaranteed and affordable Russian gas, which is cheaper than gas from other sources, most of all from the United States."
"European consumers will have to pay much more for gas, thus making their industries less competitive," Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax as he commented on Zelenskyy's words that Ukraine would not extend its gas transit deal with Russia.
Russia sees alternative routes for deliveries of gas to Europe, including a plan to create a hub in Turkey, Peskov said today, adding that "work is under way on this".
Russia has seen its gas exports to Europe significantly reduced since the invasion of Ukraine. The major drop in Gazprom's gas deliveries was due to the halt of Russian pipeline gas exports to nearly all European countries.
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia supplied around one-third of all the gas to Europe and was the single biggest supplier.
Norway has now replaced Russia to become the top supplier of gas to Europe.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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