Russia shuts down some gas wells due to the collapse of gas exports to Europe
Russian gas exports in 2023 are projected to drop by half - to 50 billion cubic meters against 100 billion in 2022
The Russian gas industry is forced to shut down some wells due to a shock reduction in production after the loss of the European market.
Source. Kommersant writes about this with reference to sources familiar with the statistics.
In the first quarter of 2023, production fell by 10% year-on-year to 180 billion cubic meters. In March, production also decreased by about 10% to 61 billion cubic meters.
The bulk of the decline was caused by Gazprom, which stopped disclosing production and export statistics at the beginning of this year. "The company's export situation is catastrophic," a source close to Gazprom told Reuters.
The gas monopoly's export decline, which led to a decline in production, began last spring. Then the Russian dictator Putin announced a demand to pay for gas in rubles and ordered to cut off the supply to those who refuse.
After that, Russia imposed sanctions on 31 European companies, including EuRoPol GAZ, the owner of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. This made it impossible to supply through it. In September, three of the four lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline were put out of commission as a result of explosions.
As a result, Russia was left with only two routes for deliveries to Europe: Ukraine's gas transportation system (about 40-42 million cubic meters per day) and one branch of the Turkish Stream pipeline, which supplies gas to Hungary and Serbia.
Against this backdrop, the State Council's Energy Commission has predicted that Russian gas exports will drop by half in 2023, to 50 billion cubic meters, compared to 100 billion in 2022.
Deliveries to China will not save Gazprom – 22 billion cubic meters will be exported through the Power of Siberia pipeline in 2023. In turn, Russia will send only 28 billion cubic meters to Europe and Turkey, which is three times lower than last year (85 billion).
Background. Earlier, Hetmantsev said that Russian gas exports in 2023 would fall by 50% compared to 2022.
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