Russia Signals It Would Gladly Restart Gas Deliveries to Europe

Russia would be ready to keep supplying natural gas to Europe if there are any volumes left from increased exports to other markets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Sunday.

“If gas is left from supplies to alternative markets, then why not? There is plenty of gas at the moment, and we have spare amounts. However, alternative markets are very greedy, and they make a lot of requests for supplies,” Peskov said, as quoted by TASS.

“Why deprive yourself of such a partner in trade and economic activities? This is a completely pragmatic approach, which is in line with our policy,” the official added, questioning the wisdom of the European Union’s central decision to ban all Russian oil and gas imports gradually by the end of next year.

Over the first quarter of the year, European buyers snapped almost all of the liquefied natural gas cargoes shipped from Novatek’s Yamal LNG plant. Despite attempts to secure alternative supply and reduce its purchases of Russian energy altogether, the EU appears to have found it difficult to find that alternative supply at competitive prices, leading to a 17% increase in purchases from Yamal LNG, for a total of 5 million tons, according to data from Kpler cited by the Financial Times last week.

The EU bought 69 out of the 71 LNG cargoes shipped from the Yamal Peninsula in western Siberia between January and March, with 25 cargoes received in March alone—the highest monthly total for the quarter. The cargoes represented a total of 1.8 million tons of the superchilled fuel.

Peskov, however, said that Europe will find a way to secure its natural gas supply, even with a ban on Russian flows. “There are so many gas liquefaction plants, both in Europe and in the Middle East, that this process, this spot market, functions like a living organism,” the official said.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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