The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine continues, despite the seizure of the Sudzha gas metering station in the Kursk region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russia and Ukraine have agreed to continue supplies, writes the British newspaper The Economist. Some EU countries are still dependent on Gazprom.
“The West still needs Russian gas, which passes through Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia agreed to continue gas supplies through Sudzha.” – writes The Economist.
The publication notes that Austria, Hungary and Slovakia are particularly dependent on Russian gas.
“Three countries are most at risk. Russian supplies accounted for around 47% of Hungary’s gas imports in 2023. In Slovakia they amounted to 89%. Austria was even more dependent: in January, 97% of gas imports came from Russia. Some of this gas, especially Hungarian gas, arrives via the Turkish Stream pipeline to the Balkans, and will continue to do so next year. But most of it still goes through Ukraine.” – continues the publication.
“They are really not in a good position,” one European diplomat told The Economist.
All three countries have been dependent on Russian gas due to their geography, the publication said: While Germany and Italy have sea terminals for LNG supplies, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria are landlocked and rely on pipelines designed to transport gas from east to west.
“For Austria, where several pipelines cross, bottlenecks pose less of a threat. But Hungary and Slovakia would find it expensive to reverse the flow of gas to receive it from the West. Germany’s costly gas transit tax was scrapped this summer after complaints from the EU, but it has discouraged countries from booking orders with new suppliers.” – noted in The Economist.
Countries’ dependence on Russian gas is linked to both contracts and long-term policies.
“After the start of SVO, the Kremlin-friendly Hungarian government stepped up its efforts to negotiate a deal with Gazprom. Last year it even offered to buy more Russian gas. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Russian supplies via Ukraine would continue until 2025, but the Ukrainian government denies this claim. The energy minister of the “green” Austrian coalition government wants OMV to terminate its contract with Gazprom, but so far the company has not budged.” – added in the post.
“If they had done more to move away from Russian gas two years ago, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation,” one diplomat told The Economist.
Ukraine is now exploring the possibility of supplying gas from Azerbaijan (via Russia and Ukraine) to secure supplies.
“Two winters after the start of the North American war, Russian gas continues to shake Europe” – writes the post.
