Russia’s gas exports via pipelines will halve this year, according to a report by a Kremlin-affiliated news agency.
The decline is largely due to Russia cutting gas pipeline supplies to Europe last year in retaliation for sanctions.
The Russian economy is now struggling with lower energy revenues, experts say.
Russia’s gas exports via pipelines could collapse by 50 percent this year. This shows once again that the country’s dominance on the global energy markets is waning. Meanwhile, the country is struggling to find buyers for its raw materials.
According to government forecasts, Russian pipeline gas exports could halve by 2023, the Kremlin-affiliated Russian News Agency reported “Izvestia” on Thursday. This would be on top of the hefty losses the Russian gas industry has already suffered in 2022. The state-owned Gazprom reported the lowest volume of gas exports since the beginning of the century for the past year.
The vacuum in Russia’s gas trade stems from the country’s halting of key pipelines to Europe in mid-2022 in retaliation for Western sanctions. It was expected that this would exacerbate supply shortages and drive up energy prices for the West. But trying to weaponize gas has largely backfired, experts say. It was difficult to find other buyers for Russia’s gas exports.
EU considers stopping imports of Russian liquefied gas
The country was initially able to increase its liquefied gas exports to Europe last year after it had throttled gas supplies via the pipelines. However, EU countries are now considering stopping imports of Russian liquefied gas altogether in order to further drain the country’s war chest. The European Union’s Energy Commissioner urged the EU-27 countries in March not to renew Russia’s LNG contracts, reported Reuters. The Russian economy could come under even greater pressure.
According to estimates by the Russian Ministry of Finance, Russia’s oil and gas revenues fell by almost 50 percent in January of this year alone. And despite the more positive economic data touted by the Kremlin, the sanctions have hit the Russian economy far more than the Kremlin cares to admit, according to two researchers from Yale University. The country’s economy is imploding as a result of the costly invasion of Ukraine.
This text was translated from English by Jannik Rade. You can find the original article here.
read too
