Gazprom: Russian gas still flows through Ukraine normally

“Gazprom supplies Russian gas through Ukraine on a regular basis, in line with the needs of European consumers, reaching 71.7 million m3/day as of April 30” – radio station Sputnik April 30 quoted Gazprom’s statement.

According to the Gazprom contract, the amount of gas shipped to Ukraine this year amounted to 40 billion cubic meters, equivalent to about 109.6 million cubic meters per day. Since the end of February, Russian gas transit through Ukraine has been close to this level and decreased only slightly for a few days in mid-March.

Gazprom: Russian gas is still flowing through Ukraine. Photo: AP

Meanwhile, newspaper The New York Times On April 29, citing unnamed officials in Brussels – Belgium, the European Union (EU) is preparing to ban all oil imports from Russia next week. Ambassadors of 27 EU member states are expected to meet on May 4 to approve the order.

Officials in Brussels said that unless Hungary made a last-minute request, the ban would be passed without calling all EU leaders to a meeting.

The oil ban could be phased in, thereby blocking tankers and giving EU members time to cut existing contracts. The measure is similar to a four-month extension of the ban on coal imports from Russia announced earlier.

This sixth EU sanctions package will also target Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank with a significant presence in Europe along with “reputable” Russian figures, according to the source. The New York Times.

Radio RT Germany is considered the “key” in the above ban. Previously, about a third of Germany’s oil imports came from Russia, but that could be cut to just 12%, according to Energy Minister Robert Habeck.

“Germany has come very close to separating from Russian oil imports,” Minister Habeck told reporters while visiting Poland earlier this week.

Moscow provides about 25% of the EU’s total annual oil needs by 2020. The bloc accounts for half of Russia’s oil exports. Brussels intends to increase oil imports from Nigeria, exporters in the Persian Gulf as well as Russia’s neighbors Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, several unnamed officials told The Times.

Last week, the US Treasury Department asked the EU to impose a price ceiling or tariff on imported Russian oil, but Brussels did not appear “salty” to that proposal.