In the first four months of this year, Russia delivered significantly less gas to the EU countries and Turkey than in the previous year. As the Russian energy company Gazprom announced today, a total of 50.1 billion cubic meters of gas were delivered to these countries between January and April – almost 27 percent less than in the same period last year. On the other hand, Gazprom recorded a 60 percent increase in gas supplies to China.
Gazprom did not provide details regarding the reasons for the drop in supplies to the EU and Turkey. The company merely stated that it would continue gas deliveries “in full compliance with the contractual obligations”.
According to Gazprom, gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities in the EU are 6.9 billion cubic meters. “In order to reach the 90 percent filling target set by the European Union, companies will have to take in another 56 million cubic meters of gas.” Last year, Gazprom had a record net profit of around 2.16 billion rubles (according to the current exchange rate, around 28 million euros).
