Russian gas exports have fallen to an absolute minimum since the Soviet era. This is evidenced by the statistics of Gazprom, which was presented by the head of the state-owned company Alexei Miller, and Reuters compared these figures with data from the 90s.
At the end of 2022, Gazprom will supply only 100.9 billion cubic meters outside Russia. This is 45% lower than in 2021, when the gas monopoly exported 185.1 billion cubic meters, of which only 10.39 billion cubic meters were delivered via the Power of Siberia to China. The level of supplies was the lowest since the collapse of the USSR. The previous anti-record, as the agency notes with reference to Gazprom Export data, was recorded in 1995, when the monopoly exported 117.4 billion cubic meters, even in 1991 supplies were higher.
The Russian gas industry can only rejoice at the increase in the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the export of which is growing mainly due to the efforts of Novatek. According to official data, over the 11 months of 2022, LNG production in Russia increased by 10% and reached 29.7 million tons, while Gazprom's production in 2022 fell by almost 100 billion cubic meters – from 514.8 billion in 2021 to 412.6 billion
During 2022, gas exports from Russia were systematically decreasing, while Moscow and Brussels escalated the sanctions confrontation. Russia obliged its counterparties to pay for gas in rubles, after which Gazprom's first customers began to fall off. Subsequently, Gazprom used sanctions as a tool to blackmail the EU: the company, under the pretext of repairing gas turbines, systematically reduced gas supply through Nord Stream.
A long debate between the parties did not lead to anything, and after the explosion of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, the issue finally died out. At the moment, only one branch of Ukrainian gas pipelines and the Turkish Stream are working towards Europe, which supplies fuel to Southern Europe in transit through Turkey. Europe was forced to increase LNG supplies, replacing Russian gas with supplies from the United States, Algeria, Qatar, Norway and even Australia.