Russia is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via the Yamal-Europe-Novak pipeline

Dec 25 (Reuters) – Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told state-run TASS news agency.

“The European market remains relevant as gas shortages continue and we have every opportunity to resume supplies,” TASS quoted Novak as saying in comments published by the agency on Sunday.

“For example, the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, which was stopped for political reasons, remains unused.

The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline normally flows west, but has been mostly reversed since December 2021, as Poland gave up buying from Russia in favor of drawing on gas stored in Germany.

In May, Warsaw ended its agreement with Russiaafter earlier rejecting Moscow’s request to pay in rubles.

Russian supplier Gazprom (GAZP.MM) responded with a supply cut and also said it would no longer be able to export gas through Poland after Moscow imposed sanctions on the company that owns the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline.

Novak also reiterated that Moscow is discussing additional gas supplies through Turkey after the establishment of a hub there.

He also said Moscow expects to deliver 21 billion cubic meters (bcm) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe in 2022.

“This year we managed to significantly increase LNG supplies to Europe,” Novak said. “For the 11 months of 2022, they increased to 19.4 billion m3, by the end of the year 21 billion m3 are expected.

In a wide-ranging interview with the TASS news agency, parts of which were published over the weekend, Novak also said that Russia had agreed with Azerbaijan to increase gas supplies for its domestic consumption.

“In the future, when they increase gas production, we will be able to discuss swaps,” he said.

Moscow is also discussing larger supplies of its gas to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, he said.

Novak also said that in the long term, Russia could send its natural gas to the markets of Afghanistan and Pakistan, either using the infrastructure of Central Asia or through a swap from the territory of Iran.

Reporting in Melbourne by Lydia Kelly; Editing by Leslie Adler, Nick Zieminski and Michael Perry

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.