The last days of Russian gas transit through Ukraine are upon us as a key transit deal expires at the end of the year. This marks the near-total loss of Russia's control over the European gas market.
A view shows the Orenburg gas processing plant of Gazprom in the Orenburg Region, Russia September 1, 2023. Russia pumped gas on Monday to European customers via Ukraine for one of the last days before a key transit deal expires at the end of the year, marking the almost complete loss of Russia’s once mighty hold over the European gas market. Supplies of Russian gas via Ukraine are due to stop from the early hours of January 1 after the current five-year deal expires.
Kyiv has refused to negotiate a new transit deal as its war against Russia approaches the end of a third year. Russia and the Soviet Union spent half a century building up a major share of the European gas market, which at its peak stood at 35%, but the war in Ukraine has all but destroyed that business for Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas giant. Moscow has lost its share to rivals such as Norway, the United States and Qatar since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the EU to cut its dependence on Russian gas. The slump in Russian gas supplies to Europe pushed gas prices to an all-time high, stoking inflation and raising the cost of living across the continent. The end of the transit deal is unlikely to cause a repeat of the 2022 EU gas price rally as the remaining volumes are relatively small. Russia shipped about 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas via Ukraine in 2023 – only 8% of peak Russian gas flows to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019.President Vladimir Putin said last week that there was no time left this year to sign a new Ukrainian gas transit deal, laying the blame on Kyiv for refusing to extend the agreement. The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline brings gas from Siberia via the town of Sudzha – now under the control of Ukrainian soldiers – in Russia’s Kursk region. It then flows through Ukraine to Slovakia. In Slovakia, the gas pipeline splits into branches going to the Czech Republic and Austri
GAS TRANSIT UKRAINE RUSSIA EUROPEAN ENERGY MARKET GAZPROM
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