The export of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe is stable despite the stoppage of supplies to Austria. TASR informs about it based on a Reuters report. The Russian concern Gazprom said that on Saturday it will send 42.4 million cubic meters (m3) of gas to Europe via Ukraine. which is the same volume as last Friday, despite the fact that gas supplies to Austria are expected to stop due to a contractual dispute with OMV.
The Russian news agency Interfax cited the data European gas pipeline operators, according to which the gas export from Russia via Ukraine was stable, however, the Austrian company OMV was not among the recipients of the gas.
OMV usually accounts for approximately 40% of the volume of Russian gas exports that are transported through gas pipelines through Ukraine, which is approximately 17 million m3 per day. Currently it is not clear if and where these flows were diverted.
On Friday, Russia announced to Austria that it will stop gas supplies through Ukraine from 6:00 a.m. CET on Saturday. Deliveries through Ukraine should end at the end of this year. Until then, Russia’s five-year agreement with Ukraine is valid. Kyiv has repeatedly confirmed that it will no longer extend it due to the ongoing military conflict.
The stoppage of Russian gas supplies to Austria, which was the main recipient of gas through Ukraine, means that Russia will now supply significant volumes of gas among European countries only to Hungary and Slovakia, in the case of Hungary, through a gas pipeline leading mainly through Turkey.
Before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia covered 40% of gas consumption in the European Union. According to Reuters data, Russia supplied approximately 15 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine in 2023, which was approximately only 8% compared to the peaks of supplies to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019.
