Russian gas exports via Ukraine to Europe stable despite Austria cuts

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian gas producer Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, the same volume as on Friday, despite expectations of gas supplies cuts to Austria over a contractual dispute.

Russian Interfax news agency cited data from European gas pipeline operators as saying that gas exports from Russia via Ukraine were stable, while Austrian company OMV was not among the gas recipients.

It said OMV usually accounted for around 40% of Russian gas flows via Ukraine, or some 17 mcm per day. It was not immediately clear if the flows have been redirected.

Russia told Austria on Friday it would suspend gas deliveries via Ukraine starting from 0500 GMT on Saturday, in a development signalling an end to Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe.

Russia’s current five-year agreement with Ukraine expires in the end of this year, and Kyiv has repeatedly said it is not willing to extend it amid the ongoing military conflict.

Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main recipient of gas via Ukraine, means Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in Hungary’s case via a pipeline running mostly through Turkey.

In contrast, Russia met 40% of the European Union’s gas needs before Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in 2022.

Russia shipped some 15 billion cubic metres of gas via Ukraine in 2023, about 8% of peak Russian gas flows to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019, according to data compiled by Reuters.

In 2023, the Ukraine transit route met 65% of gas demand in Austria and its eastern neighbours Hungary and Slovakia, according to the International Energy Agency.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by William Mallard and Frances Kerry)