Gas partnership grows stronger

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Kommersant FM on the development of Russia's relations with Turkey and European countries in the gas sector.

Alexey Gromov believes that, unlike Turkey, they have few levers of influence on Moscow:

“Moldova asked for a deferral of payments. In this case, we took a tough stance, Chisinau paid all the debt for gas supplies in recent months. If we talk about other countries - Hungary, Serbia - for the latter we already supply gas at a price lower than the one that is set today on the European market without reference to the cost at gas hubs, for example, at TTF.

Therefore, in principle, I would not say that Turkey's proposal and its satisfaction by the Russian side can lead to some kind of chain reaction from other consumers of Russian gas. All is well at the end of this year. After all, since the end of last year we have been living in conditions of high gas prices on world markets. Gazprom received a record amount of revenue, especially in the first half of 2022, when supplies to European countries were almost in full.

Now, of course, volumes have often declined for reasons beyond our control. I mean blowing up the Nord Streams, reducing Ukrainian gas transit. This year, the Russian side will have no problems in terms of receipts. Another thing next year: the situation will be determined by the volumes that we can really deliver to Europe. At the moment, it is about 30-35 billion cubic meters, despite the fact that last year the volume of deliveries exceeded 140 billion cubic meters.”