In September, Russian gas supplied to Europe via pipeline increased to a record high since February.
According to statistics from the European Gas Transport Operators' Association (ENTSOG), in the first month of the fall, Gazprom's gas transfers to Europe reached an average of 51.2 million cubic meters per day. The gas is transported via the only pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe: the TurkStream pipeline.
This is the highest gas volume since February this year, when Russia's exports to Europe reached 54.6 million m3/day.
Data from EU gas system operators shows that supply to Hungary, Serbia or Slovakia remains unchanged. However, Greece has sharply increased imports, with an increase of up to 80% compared to August, reaching about 9 million m3/day.
In contrast, Russian gas volumes to Romania have fallen slightly to 3 million cubic meters per day. Many sources said that Russian gas transported via TurkStream in the summer mainly flows to Romania.
It is possible that Greek gas traders have resold part of their Russian gas to Romania, but since September they have switched to importing more directly to Greece.
Greece has no gas storage facilities and is completely dependent on current supply. The increased imports of Russian gas immediately forced the country to reduce its LNG purchases. Compared to August, Greece's LNG imports have decreased by 30%, down to about 6 million m3/day.
Experts have repeatedly noted that Russian gas exports depend on long-term customer orders. It is clear that in September, Greek companies increased their purchases of Russian gas at reasonable prices. Russian gas is sold under long-term contracts, linked to trading prices on exchanges in Europe.
