Russia has stopped supplying natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.

(CLO) Russia's decision to halt gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine on January 1st marked the end of a decades-long agreement.

Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company, announced it would halt gas supplies through Ukraine at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time after the transit agreement expired and was not renewed. Ukraine asserted that its decision not to renew the agreement was in "national security interests," and stated that it had prepared its infrastructure in advance of the agreement's termination.

This agreement once guaranteed the transport of 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and generated billions of dollars for both sides. However, prolonged tensions between Russia and Ukraine, particularly since Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, have deteriorated relations between the two countries.

Furthermore, the conflict that erupted in 2022 prompted the European Union (EU) to accelerate its reduction of dependence on Russian energy, shifting to importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, the United States, and Norway.

Photo: Flickr

Slovakia and Austria, two countries that previously received natural gas via Ukraine, have switched to alternative routes. Slovakia incurred an additional €177 million in transit costs, while Austria secured supplies through Germany and Italy.

The EU also expanded its LNG import infrastructure, meaning that halting transit through Ukraine did not cause major fluctuations in gas prices, with the European benchmark price rising only slightly to 48.50 euros/MWh on January 1st.

Currently, the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea is Russia's only operational gas pipeline, serving Türkiye and several Central European countries such as Hungary and Serbia.

In 2018, Russia transported a record 201 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via routes such as Nord Stream and Yamal-Europe, which are now closed. This figure plummeted to 15 billion cubic meters in 2023.

Hoai Phuong (according to TASS, Reuters, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nga-ngung-cung-cap-khi-dot-cho-chau-au-qua-ukraine-post328538.html