From January 1, 2025, Ukraine suspended supplies of Russian gas to Europe through its territory. Official Kyiv refused to renew the five-year transit contract in force since 2019. This can be described as the most high-profile event in recent years in the global energy market. Because we are talking about natural gas supplies to part of Europe.
As Day.Az reports, Ukrainian economist, Candidate of Economic Sciences Ivan Us stated this in an exclusive commentary for AZERTAC.
According to the expert, the peak of natural gas supplies from Russia to Europe occurred during the Soviet period. Then gas supplies decreased:
“After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the volume of gas supplies decreased even more. According to statistics at the end of 2024, the volume of Russian gas transportation to Europe amounted to about 30 billion cubic meters. Approximately half of Russian gas exports to Europe passed through Ukraine. And this meant approximately 5- 6 billion dollars in annual income for Russia. Ukraine also earned from transporting Russian gas. The income was about 800 million dollars a year,” the Ukrainian expert added.
According to the economist, European countries will be provided with natural gas through alternative routes.
“There is a “Southern Corridor” for supplying Europe with natural gas. Russia supplies natural gas via the Black Sea through Turkey to Bulgaria, and then to European countries. As for the fact that Europe purchases gas from alternative sources, first of all, I will say that for Europe there is gas from Azerbaijan, Norway, the USA, Qatar, Algeria. There are profitable logistics for supplying natural gas from these countries to Europe. After the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Europe. prepared in advance for alternative gas routes. We should not forget about one more fact: after Trump takes office as president, he will demand that European countries buy more natural gas from the United States,” Ivan Us emphasized.