Why did Europe refuse joint purchases of Russian gas

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper on the EU's refusal to include Russian gas supplies in the joint procurement procedure.

The EU countries have agreed to exclude Russian gas from contracts for joint purchases. This decision is due to the lack of such purchases prospects. All subsequent gas deliveries from Russia to the EU countries will be carried out under other contracts. Such an opinion in an interview with Vechernyaya Moskva was expressed by Alexey Gromov.

According to the expert, there was no advantage for the EU countries in joint purchases. It was simply a tool that strengthened the power of the European Commission (EC) within the EU. In his opinion, in the future, gas supplies from Russia to the European Union will continue under long-term contracts.

- The joint purchase instrument is designed to purchase additional volumes of gas that the European gas market may need in the future. European countries have signed the long-term contracts for the purchase of Russian gas, which will run until 2030-2035. For a combination of reasons, these contracts are not fully implemented: there are problems with payment in rubles, problems with the infrastructure for delivering Russian gas. Europe simply believes that there is no reason to include the purchase of additional volumes of Russian gas in this procedure, since there are long-term contracts, - explained the interlocutor of VM.

According to Gromov, the decision of the European Commission will not change anything in relations between Russia and the EU countries. This year, Russian exports of pipeline gas to Europe have fallen several times due to various reasons, so changes in the rules for future gas purchases by the European Union are of no particular importance for the Russian Federation. The specialist added that in the future Russia will gradually stop supplying gas to Europe.