The boss of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, recognized this Wednesday, December 28 a year 2022 ” very difficult “ for his group, marked by a major change in strategy, with exports turning to Asia in the midst of a crisis between Moscow and the West.
“I want to point out right away that 2022, of course, turned out to be very, very difficult”, said Alexei Miller during a year-end press conference call. The Gazprom boss said he noted “radical changes in the energy markets”driven by the consequences of international sanctions against Moscow in retaliation for its military intervention in its Ukrainian neighbor.
Energy: the other war for Europe
In 2021, Russia was, via Gazprom, the world’s largest gas exporter and the European Union’s largest gas supplier, but the 27 EU member countries have since greatly reduced their imports, to the tune of less than 10 % of all their gas imported, according to Brussels.
Extractions down 20%
Over the whole of 2022, Gazprom, majority-owned by the Russian state, “extracted 412.6 billion cubic meters of gas”, including just over 100 billion m3 for export, said Alexei Miller. This is a lower level than in 2021.
In a press release published on December 1, Gazprom announced that it had extracted “376.9 billion m3 of gas” between January and November 2022, i.e. almost 20% less than over the same period of the previous year.
Exports to non-CIS countries (the Commonwealth of Independent States, which brings together several countries of the former USSR) had even fallen by 44.5% compared to the same period in 2021, to 95.2 billion m3 .
And if Lorraine became our first supplier of gas?
Alexei Miller, in his speech, also welcomed the inauguration on December 21 of the Kovykta gas field, a vast field located in Siberia which should make it possible to significantly increase exports to China.
Russia has been trying for several years to increase its gas supplies to the energy-intensive Chinese economy, and has accelerated this movement in recent months amid international sanctions targeting it. “Now the Siberian Force gas pipeline (which connects Russia and China) is in operation for its entire length, more than 3,000 kilometers”noted Alexei Miller.
