Russian Giant Sees Exports Up

Russian integrated monopoly Gazprom has seen a strong start to the year, producing more to meet higher demand at home and abroad, it said January 16. According to operational data, from 1 to 15 January, Gazprom produced 22.8bn m³ of gas, which is 3.7% (or 8bn m³) more than in the same period of 2018.

The company's domestic gas sales from the gas transmission network rose 8% (or 1.2bn m³).

Exports to the European Union and Turkey were up 3.1%, at 8.6bn m³. In particular, supplies significantly increased to Italy (74.6%), to Austria (42.6%), to the Czech Republic (43.4%), to the Netherlands (18%), to Germany (2.2%), to France (10%), to Romania ( 28.8%), to Bulgaria (20%), to Finland (16.5%), to Denmark (17.9%) and to Greece (6.6%).

The high percentage increases in many cases relative to the average suggests that some countries took less Russian gas than last year but if so, none were identified. The fourth quarter saw a big rise in LNG imports relative to Q4 2017, when strong Asian demand priced it out of the European market. That demand was not so high last year and this.

All volumes are expressed as Russian m³, which contain fractionally less energy than European standards.