Russia’s energy giant, Gazprom, is certain that gas supplies countries outside of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) in 2018 will increase compared to last year, Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, told Vedomosti.
“It’s difficult to say for sure right now how much we will supply this year compared to 2017, but that will be a record. All the prerequisites are in place for that,” he said.
As of late April, the company supplied about 550-580 million cubic meters of gas per day to Europe, Medvedev pointed out. “Until recently, those were normal volumes for the winter season. Currently, in April we’ve been exporting just as much,” he stressed.
In 2017, Gazprom delivered a record amount of gas to Europe (including Turkey) – 194.4 billion cubic meters.
According to Medvedev, Europe’s need to replenish gas reserves in underground storage facilities will facilitate the demand. Besides, in 2018, Gazprom plans to again form increased gas reserves in its own underground storage facilities, he added.
All that may pave the way for another export record, according to Dmitry Marinchenko, Director at Fitch Ratings Russia. He warned though that the growth of LNG production could thwart another Gazprom record.
“Currently, additional volumes are mainly absorbed by China and other Asian countries, but by the end of the year, there can be a small surplus. A portion of the liquefied gas share could eventually end up in Europe, even though those might be relatively small volumes, from 10 billion to 20 billion cubic meters,” the analyst explained.
Gazprom’s exports to countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in January-April were up 6.3 percent year on year, the Russian gas exporter said on Thursday. Exports to non-CIS states totaled 70.3 billion cubic meters, the company said in a statement.
