The CEO of the Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday that Europe was damaging its own industrial sector by artificially destroying demand for gas, as Russian gas exports to the region have shrivelled.
Alexei Miller said there could be gas price shocks and supply disruption ahead, telling a conference that production was declining sharply in some European industry sectors badly affected by gas price volatility. He offered no specific examples.
Russian gas supplies to Europe fell sharply after Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022, and much of the shortfall was taken up by suppliers from the United States, Norway and Qatar. As a result, Gazprom plunged to a net loss of around $7 billion in 2023, its first year in the red since 1999.
Russia shipped only about 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine in 2023 - around 8% of the volume it sent to Europe via various routes in 2018-2019.
EU gas prices rose in 2022 to record highs after the loss of Russian supplies, but have since fallen sharply. EU officials and traders say the spike is unlikely to be repeated now that Russian gas accounts for such a small share of the market.
"What will happen next?" Miller told a gas conference.
"Very briefly - the process of de-industrialisation of Europe will continue... volatility in the gas market will increase even more, and what is most unpleasant is that such a policy on the European gas market can lead to a new gas price shock and supply interruption."
(Reuters - Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Kevin Liffey)