The company's spokesman, Sergey Kupriyanov, told journalists:
-
All accusations alleging that we undersupply gas to the European market are absolutely baseless, unacceptable and inconsistent with reality
-
All such statements are nothing but lies
Gazprom’s Yamal-Europe pipeline, which brings gas from Russia to Germany through Poland and Belarus, saw shipments halted.
The development prompted some politicians to assume that Russia is playing politics and pushing for the approval of its recently built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is yet to be passed by the German regulator.
Fully constructed in September, the pipeline has faced vehement opposition from Poland and Ukraine – 2 transit nations bypassed by the Baltic Sea pipeline, which stand to lose billions of dollars in annual revenues – as well as the US.
Berlin recently said it would decide the project’s fate on a non-political basis.
The Russian gas giant said it simply fulfilled all its existing contractual obligations and did not receive any new supply requests from the relevant European nations, like Germany and France.
The company supplied 50.2 billion m3 of gas to Germany alone this year, Kupriyanov said, adding that it was 5.3 billion m3 more than last year.
Gazprom also fulfilled all its obligations related to gas supplies through the Ukrainian gas transport network as early as on December 15 but still continues to transport gas through Ukraine’s territory.
Kupriyanov said:
-
All the problems were created by Western Europe itself
-
One should look in the mirror instead of placing the blame on Gazprom
-
Gazprom is ready to supply additional volumes of gas within the existing contract framework
Europe saw gas prices skyrocketing this autumn, sparking fears of an energy crisis and leading to initial accusations against Moscow.
Last week, gas prices rose about 20% again, prompting another wave of heated rhetoric from the West.
