Russia’s natural gas exports to Europe via pipeline and LNG cargoes declined in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier as flows via Ukraine stopped and some buyers shunned Russian LNG.
Total gas exports from Russia to Europe nearly halved to 8.33 billion cubic meters in the period January to June 2025, down from 15.5 billion cubic meters for the same period of 2024, when Russian gas was still flowing via a pipeline route through Ukraine, according to data compiled by Reuters.
Russian gas supply via pipelines to Europe has slumped since 2022, after Russia cut off many EU customers from its gas deliveries, and Nord Stream stopped supplying gas to Germany, after Russia reduced flows and after a sabotage in September 2022.
Then, Russian pipeline gas supply via Ukraine stopped on January 1, 2025, after Ukraine refused to negotiate an extension to the transit deal.
However, some European countries, including Hungary, continue to receive Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline via the Balkans.
In June, supply via TurkStream dipped by 18.3% compared to May levels, per Reuters calculations based on available data from European pipeline operators. Maintenance along the pipeline was the reason for the slump in gas deliveries.
But year-to-date, Russian gas flows to Europe via the TurkStream route increased by 6.8% from a year earlier, per Reuters estimates.
Russian gas giant Gazprom stopped reporting export figures to Europe shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia’s total LNG exports also fell in the first half of the year, by 4.4% to 15.2 million metric tons, per data from LSEG quoted by Reuters. LNG exports to Europe slumped by 13% year on year, as an EU ban on Russian LNG transshipments came into effect in March. The EU banned transshipment of Russian LNG for re-export to third countries from EU ports as part of a sanctions package earlier this year.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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