Russia increased pipeline gas exports to Europe by 39 percent year on year in May

Russia increased its average daily pipeline gas exports to Europe by 39 percent year on year in May, up 7.3 percent from April. Reuters reported this today, citing its own calculations. Gazprom has a monopoly on pipeline gas exports in Russia. So far this year, it has supplied around 13 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe.

The calculations are based on data from ENTSOG, the association responsible for gas transmission in Europe, and Gazprom’s daily reports on gas transit through Ukraine. Average daily gas exports to Europe through the pipeline network thus rose to 89.5 million cubic metres in May, compared with 83.4 million cubic metres in April. In May last year, the figure was 64.5 million cubic metres.

Europe used to be Russia’s main export market, but now receives much less Russian gas. This is the result of a political decision, as Europe began rejecting Russian gas in 2022 following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in late February that year. However, the European Union had already been trying to reduce its dependence on Russian commodities well before the war in Ukraine.

Gazprom has not published its own monthly statistics since the beginning of 2023. It did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2022, Russia supplied a total of 63.8 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe through various routes. This figure is again based on Reuters’ own calculations and data from Gazprom. Last year, the volume of gas supplied to Europe fell by 55.6 percent to 28.3 billion cubic metres.

Gazprom recorded a net loss of 629 billion roubles (around CZK 160 billion) last year, its first full-year loss since 1999. The main cause was the decline in gas exports to Europe. When Russian gas exports to Europe peaked in 2018 and 2019, annual exports reached 175 to 180 billion cubic metres.