Russia’s energy shift to Asia is “more topical than ever” amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the EU over Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, a Gazprom executive said on Thursday. “Today, the topic of development towards new markets is more current than ever,” said the deputy chairman of the board of directors of Gazprom, Oleg Aksyutin, during a Gas Forum in St. Petersburg.
A long-standing turn to Asia
According to him, China, where “consumption can be expected to double”, and India, where “there is an increase in demand”, are two countries that will become the main importers of Russian gas in the coming years.
“It is a planned and meticulous work that takes many years,” he added, at a time when Russia wants to strengthen its energy cooperation with Asian countries, including China and India, to the detriment of the European Union, until now its main market in this zone.
Feverish European demand
Regarding the European market, the Russian president considered that “energy in Europe cannot withstand high sales prices”. “But European leaders don’t seem to be in a hurry to take the right steps,” he lamented.
The total stoppage of Russian gas deliveries through the Nord Stream gas pipeline since September 2 has raised fears in Europe of a serious energy crisis this winter, which has led European governments to call on the population and companies to reduce their consumption.
In a press release, Gazprom also announced on Thursday that it extracted “300.8 billion cubic meters of gas” from January 1 to September 15, 2022, or 15.9% less than in 2021, according to preliminary data. Exports to countries outside the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups several countries of the former USSR) fell by 38.8% compared to the same period in 2021, to 84.8 billion m3.
Source: BFM TV
