Russia Surpasses Record for Exports

Gazprom set a new absolute record of the daily gas supplies to the 'far abroad' [Europe and Turkey] in history by exporting 578.9mn m³ on October 18 and 579.5mn m³ the following day, the company said. 

"Winter has not started yet, and demand for Russian gas in foreign countries is as high as if severe frosts had come to Europe. This is further proof of the fact that Russian gas is highly competitive and highly in demand in the European market. It is a proof that new gas transport routes are required for its reliable deliveries to foreign consumers, such as North Stream 2 and Turkish Stream,” said CEO Alexei Miller.

"In the nine and a half months of 2016, we have ensured the growth of gas supplies to far abroad [defined as Europe and Turkey], equal to the growth for whole of 2015 and this despite the fact that in front of us there are two and a half months," he said.

Gazprom is still waiting to hear from the European Commission on whether it may use all the capacity in the Opal gas line, which takes gas from Nord Stream 1 south to the Czech Republic.

Alexei Miller, Gazprom CEO

(Credit: Gazprom)

Since the start of 2016, Russia has exported more gas to Germany (up 7% or +2.4bn m³), to France (up 21.1% or +1.5bn m³), to Austria (up 24.8% or +800mn m³), to Greece (up 53.7% or +700mn m³), the Netherlands (up 92.5% or +1.6bn m³) and Denmark (up 148.6% or +800mn m³). It expects exports to reach 170bn m³ this year, up 10% on last year.

Gazprom has not changed the forecast average price of $165-170/'000 m³ (or about $5.90/mn Btu), down sharply on previous years. The industry group Eurogas also reported increased gas demand in Europe, which it attributed to the power sector and transport – even though a number of generators are planning to mothball gas-fired capacity.

Azerbaijan desk