MOSCOW: Russia’s Gazprom said it will pump a reduced volume of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, the last day before the expiry of a deal that had kept the gas flowing throughout nearly three years of war.
Gazprom said it would send only 37.2 million cubic metres on Tuesday compared to 42.4 mcm on Monday.
Flows are expected to fall to zero from the early hours of Jan. 1 after the expiry of the five-year transit agreement. Its demise marks the almost complete loss of Moscow’s once mighty hold over the European gas market.
Ukraine refused to negotiate a new deal because of the war.
The halting of supplies via Ukraine will be a major blow to Moldova, a country that was once part of the Soviet Union.
Among European Union countries, Slovakia will be the most affected.
Hungary will continue to receive Russian gas from the south, via the TurkStream pipeline on the bed of the Black Sea, although it had been keen to keep the Ukrainian route as well.
Ukraine is giving up some $800 million a year in fees from Russia, while Gazprom will lose close to $5 billion in gas sales to Europe via Ukraine.
Gazprom to send 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday
Russia and the Soviet Union spent half a century building up a major share of the European gas market, which at its peak stood at 35%, but the war in Ukraine has all but destroyed that business for Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas giant.
It plunged to a net loss of $7 billion in 2023, its first annual loss since 1999 Moscow has lost out to rivals such as Norway, the United States and Qatar since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the EU to cut its dependence on Russian gas.
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