Speaking at a press conference, Burmistrova said Gazprom had prioritized meeting direct customer requests for Russian gas during the unseasonably cold weather in Europe this spring.
She also denied that Gazprom was withholding gas from the European market in order to boost prices despite not booking significant additional transit capacity via Ukraine.
Burmistrova said:
- We book capacity in strict compliance with requests from our customers that we deliver to
- In parallel, due to strong demand, we didn't inject into storage - we delivered to offtakers directly
- Gazprom had now started to inject into European storages
- Traditionally we start injecting in April, but this year we saw withdrawals from storage toward the end of April
- Only after that was it possible to begin injections
- I would not rule out that the injection period will also get longer and go beyond October
- Just like in previous years, we're going to inject the volumes that will be able to support our supplies
In 2020, Gazprom's sales in the Far Abroad totaled 175 Bcm, well down on the 199 Bcm from 2019.
Asked whether a previous target of supplying around 200 Bcm/year to the Far Abroad still held, Burmistrova said that given the current market situation, Gazprom preferred to be on the «conservative end of the spectrum».
She said she hoped that with the European economy recovering there could be «some pleasant surprises» in 2021.
