Russia continues to export gas to Europe through Ukraine

Request for providing gas of Europe increased from 71.7 million m3 on April 30 to 97.2 million m3 on May 1.

Also on May 1, the director of Moldova’s state-owned energy company Moldovagaz announced that Gazprom will continue to supply natural gas to the country under the contract signed between the two enterprises.

Russia currently supplies about 40% of the gas needs in Europe. (Artwork – Photo: Bloomberg)

According to the Gazprom contract, the amount of gas transported to Ukraine this year amounted to 40 billion m3, equivalent to about 109.6 million m3/day. From the end of February, the gas transportation of Russia through Ukraine is close to this level and only decreased slightly for a few days in mid-March.

Before that, on April 30, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat It is reported that Finland is preparing to cut off natural gas supplies from Russia in May.

The information comes as Gazprom previously asked the Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum to give feedback by May 20 on the payment in rubles when buying gas from Russia.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, like much of Europe, could cut off Russian gas supplies on May 21.

Finnish officials say that without Russian gas, Finland will need to look for alternative sources.

Finland’s Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Director Tytti Tuppurainen said the country had decided not to accept the payment terms in Russian rubles.

On April 27, Interfax cited Gazprom’s announcement, confirming that it had completely suspended gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland, because these countries refused to pay for Russian gas purchases in rubles.

Gazprom said it has sent notices to Bulgargaz and PGNiG, two gas importers from Bulgaria and Poland, about the suspension of gas supply from April 27 until the payment is made as requested. President of Russia Vladimir Putin given.

Bulgaria and Poland are on the gas transit route from Russia to several other European countries. The Russian side warned that in case these two countries “illegally withdraw Russian gas in transit to third countries”, the transit supply will not be compensated accordingly.

In response to Western sanctions, at the end of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree regulating all gas supply contracts with companies registered to operate in foreign countries. “unfriendly” members will only be paid in rubles starting April 1.

European countries and Russia have been arguing for weeks over the new payment regime. A few days ago, the European Commission (EC) said that gas importers in Europe can comply with Russia’s request without violating sanctions.

Russia currently supplies about 40% of the gas needs in Europe. Gazprom, Russia’s main exporter, maintains more than 40 long-term agreements with countries in the “old continent”.

Gazprom supplies about 10.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Poland, equivalent to 50% of the country’s annual needs. Meanwhile, Bulgaria imports about 3 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year, equivalent to 90% of its needs.