Gazprom's average daily natural gas supplies to Europe in July hit a year's highest level, up 5.7% year-on-year and 12% in June, according to Reuters.
Calculations based on data from European gas transit giant Entsog and Gazprom's daily report on the gas transit through Ukraine show that the average daily gas exports via the pipeline increased to 91.5 million cubic meters in July 2024 from 86.6 million cubic meters in July 2023 and 81.8 million cubic meters in June.
The monthly increase is the result of the end of maintenance of the Turkstream gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey and seasonal demand as utility companies begin pumping gas into inventories before winter.
So far (in 2024), Gazprom's natural gas exports to Europe have reached 18.3 billion cubic meters. Annual traffic in Europe peaked in 2018-2019 at between 175 billion cubic meters and 180 billion cubic meters.
According to Reuters, Russia has supplied a total of about 63.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via various routes in 2022.
Gas volumes fell 55.6% to 28.3 billion cubic meters in 2023, the last time Gazprom released its own monthly statistics.
In 2023, Gazprom recorded its first annual loss since 1999 after gas exports to Europe fell, causing the company to lose 629 billion rubles ($6.9 billion).
While Europe continues to depend on gas supplies from Gazprom, the state-owned company's contracts with several European countries are under increasing scrutiny as the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters its third year.
In June 2024, an arbitration court allowed German energy company Uniper to end its long-term gas supply relationship with Gazprom and award the company more than 13 billion euros ($144.19 billion) in damages for failure to deliver gas.
German Foreign Minister Leonore Gewessler proposed in July to adjust the country's contract with Gazprom. Most recently, the Austrian ruling coalition agreed on another clause on stopping imports of Russian gas by 2027.
By May 2024, Austria had received 90% of its gas via pipeline from Russia. According to Kurier, in 2023, Austria may have transferred about 4 billion euros to Gazprom to pay for gas.
Austria is currently the EU country most dependent on Russian gas, and is seen as a remaining gateway for Russian gas to Europe, Reuters reported.
On July 10, Bulgaria's state gas company Bulgargaz also opened arbitration proceedings against Gazprom, seeking compensation for alleged breaches of contract.
