Russia’s natural gas exports via the TurkStream pipeline to Europe jumped by 10.3% in January from a year earlier, Reuters calculations showed on Monday, as Gazprom boosted supply via the only gas route left from Russia to the EU.
Last month, Russian gas supply via TurkStream totaled 1.73 billion cubic meters (bcm), up from 1.57 bcm in January 2025, according to the calculations made by Reuters.
On January 1, 2025, Russian pipeline gas supply to Europe crumbled again, after Ukraine refused to extend the pipeline transit deal with Russia.
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.
Russian pipeline gas supply via Ukraine stopped on January 1, 2025, after Ukraine refused to negotiate an extension to the transit deal.
That left only TurkStream as the conduit of Russian natural gas via pipeline to Europe.
Some European countries, including Hungary and Slovakia, continue to receive Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline via Turkey and the Balkans.
Supplies via TurkStream have increased over the past year.
Daily flows in January 2026 averaged 55.8 million cubic meters (mcm), up from 50.6 mcm in January 2025, per the Reuters calculations based on data from European gas transmission group Entsog. December 2025 flows averaged 56 mcm per day, so the past two months have seen consistent flows via TurkStream.
Despite higher gas flows on TurkStream, Russia’s gas sales to Europe last year plunged to a 50-year low, after crashing by 44% from 2024 in the absence of transit via Ukraine.
Moreover, the 27 EU member states last month formally adopted the regulation on phasing out Russian imports of both pipeline gas and LNG into the EU. A full ban will take effect for LNG imports from the beginning of 2027 and for pipeline gas imports from the autumn of 2027.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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