Russia's Natural Gas Exports To Europe Have Slumped This Month

• Russia’s natural gas exports via pipeline to Europe are down by 11.4% so far this month according to estimates from Reuters.
• The reduction is partly due to weak demand in Europe, with benchmark natural gas prices recording a sixth consecutive weekly loss last week.
• Russia has stopped publishing data on its gas deliveries to Europe, but deliveries were estimated to have risen by 7.5% in April compared to March.

Russia’s natural gas exports via pipeline to Europe have fallen by 11.4% so far this month compared to the average pipeline flows in April, estimates from Reuters showed on Monday.

Russia still sends some gas via pipelines to Europe via one transit route through Ukraine and via TurkStream.  

Between May 1 and May 15, Russia’s gas giant Gazprom sent 67 million cubic meters per day of gas to Europe, down from 75.6 million cubic meters per day last month, as spot prices for gas in Europe fell to a 21-month low.

Low demand for natural gas sent Europe’s benchmark gas prices towards a sixth consecutive weekly loss last week—the longest run of weekly losses since 2020. Lower power demand amid mild spring weather in most of Europe is depressing gas prices, while comfortable inventories of gas have not yet led to any rush for filling storage sites ahead of the next winter.

Last month, Russian gas deliveries to Europe rose by 7.5% compared to March, due to higher volumes shipped in transit via Turkey, according to Reuters calculations from earlier this month.

Gazprom has stopped publishing numbers on its gas deliveries to Europe.

The Russian giant has seen exports to Europe decline since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, as Russia cut off gas supplies to a number of countries in Europe.

Russia halted gas supply to Poland, Bulgaria, and Finland in April and May 2022, slashed gas deliveries via Nord Stream to Germany in June, then cut off Nord Stream supply in early September, weeks before the still mysterious sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea at the end of September.  

Germany, Russia’s biggest customer of gas before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, doesn’t import any Russian gas via pipeline now. Norway became Germany’s single-largest natural gas supplier in 2022, overtaking Russia, as total German gas imports dropped by 12.3% compared to 2021.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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