03.01.2022, Moscow.
Russia is not obligated to deliver all of its natural gas to Europe through Ukraine, said Alexander Pankin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister on January 3 in a commentary to RIA Novosti.
“If that’s the objective, we are not obligated to pump natural gas through Ukraine only,” Pankin said. In addition, Russia’s pace to fulfill its contracts supplying the natural gas to Europe is 8-10% ahead of planned targets, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister.
In addition, Pankin said that the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 (NS-2) gas pipeline could be delayed until summer, due to regulatory procedures that could drag on until the end of the first half of 2022.
Then, it’s possible that the US will be able to ban SP-2 certification in Germany. “Why can’t we imagine that the US will tell the Germans not to buy a single milliliter of the Russian gas that comes through NS-2?” Pankin said.
On January 3, the Slovak GTS Eustream operator reported that the gas supply to Europe through Ukraine was declining for the second day in a row. On January 1, Eustream, the Slovak GTS operator, announced that it had reduced its request for natural gas transit through Ukraine by 41% in 2022. The requested volume fell from 83.78 million cubic meters on December 31 to 49.55 million cubic meters on January 1, 2022.
On December 31, 2021, it turned out that based on the auction results at the GSA Platform, Gazprom did not book capacities for the transit of natural gas via Poland through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
