Russian gas exports to Europe through Ukraine remained stable on Wednesday, three weeks before the deal for transiting the gas via Ukrainian territory expires on December 31, data from Kremlin-controlled Gazprom and a European pipeline network operator showed.
Russian gas supplies to Austria’s OMV were halted in mid-November amid a contractual dispute and legal wranglings related to interrupted gas supplies in 2022.
Despite the stoppage, overall Russian gas exports via Ukraine, which account for just under half of Moscow’s total gas flows to the continent, have remained stable as other buyers stepped in.
Russia also exports gas to Turkey and further to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline on the bed of the Black Sea.
Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday.
Nominations for natural gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine were a touch lower on Wednesday from Tuesday but in line with recent volumes, data from transmission system operator Eustream showed.
Nominations for flows to Austria from Slovakia and to the Czech Republic from Slovakia were also similar as in recent days.
According to the website oilprice.com, Ukraine has said multiple times that it would not pursue talks about renewing the agreement with Russia.
Gazprom itself is assuming in its internal planning for 2025 that it will not be sending gas to Europe via Ukraine as of January 1, the report said.
“Last week, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR started supplying natural gas to Slovakia’s state-owned energy operator SPP, a month after the Slovakian firm signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan as it prepares for a halt to Russian supplies via Ukraine,” the oilprice.com report said.
Moldova has declared a state of emergency for 60 days starting Monday due to the expected cut off of Russian gas supplies from Jan 1,2025.
