Russia’s Gazprom booked no additional gas transit to Europe from January at auctions on Tuesday. The move came despite President Vladimir Putin’s promise that Russia remained committed to supplying extra volumes to Europe once it was done replenishing domestic storage tanks. Russia accounts for a third of Europe’s gas requirements, and Gazprom’s additional volumes would be critical to ease the surge in spot gas prices which have hit households and businesses.
Gazprom booked no additional gas transit capacity via Ukraine and Poland to Europe for January-September 2022. The move indicates that the company would not raise its supplies to Europe beyond its contractual volumes through these two routes. European politicians accused Russia of withholding supplies to exert pressure on German regulators to issue permits for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The Kremlin has denied such accusations.
