Russia’s Gazprom ‘confident’ despite sanctions – CEO

Russian energy giant Gazprom remains strong and stable despite being forced to reorient export flows and find new buyers because of Western sanctions, CEO Aleksey Miller told the Russia 1 TV channel on Sunday.

Asked how the company sees its future, Miller said Gazprom is looking ahead with “absolute confidence” and stated that it is “reliably fulfilling all its obligations.”

“I can say that economically we are as strong as before,” Miller stressed.

He noted that Gazprom regularly supplies additional gas volumes to its foreign partners, and has plans to boost deliveries to China and Hungary. According to Miller, an extra 600 million cubic meters is expected to be delivered to China this year, in addition to the 22 billion cubic meters agreed under existing contracts.

Russian gas exports to its traditional markets in the EU have dwindled due to sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, previously Russia’s main gas route to the region. However, Gazprom has reoriented its energy trade to Asia, with China emerging as one of its largest buyers.

Gazprom announced last week that the Power of Siberia pipeline to China will reach its full capacity of 38 billion cubic meters per year within a few months. Once that happens, China will fully substitute the EU in terms of Russian gas purchases, the company said.

In his TV interview, Miller also announced that Gazprom had recently agreed a deal to supply extra volumes to Hungary, which continues to buy Russian gas despite pressure from the EU.

“Significant additional volumes will also flow to the Hungarian market. For the current year, the additional volume of supplies has already amounted to 1.3 billion cubic meters,” Miller stated. Budapest has pledged to continue buying Russian gas despite the recent hike in transit fees by neighboring Bulgaria.

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