Russian gas supplies to Europe will once again be cut, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom announced on Friday. No justification was given by the company.
Gazprom has previously justified reductions in pipeline gas deliveries on technical faults, the country's refusal to pay in the Russian ruble, and other technical issues.
Following the announcement, Gazprom exported via its gas pipelines crossing Ukraine 24.4 million cubic metres of natural gas. The total volume of gas shipped the day before amounted to 25.1 million cubic metres, and 32.6 million cubic metres the week before.
Analysts say that the demand for Russian gas, especially for long-term contracts, has likely decreased due to a recent drop in market price. On the Dutch TTF gas futures market, which acts as the European benchmark, gas prices fell by 2% on Friday.
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Russia’s throttling of the supply of gas last year, which followed European sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, caused a wave of panic among European energy traders, sending the price of gas soaring to all-time records.
The Kremlin has long used energy as a weapon against Europe and its economy. Even before the war in Ukraine, Russia’s refusal to use Ukrainian gas transmission infrastructure sent gas prices spiralling and created artificial demand for the sanctioning of the now-destroyed Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
