European countries are not ready for the termination of Russian gas transit, fuel supplies from Russia were a guarantee in case of a severe winter, said the head of the Nomisma Energia energy analytical and research centre Davide Tabarelli.
Vladimir Zelensky said on 27 August that Kiev does not intend to extend the gas transit agreement with Moscow, which expires at the end of 2024.
‘Europe is not ready for this, just as it was not ready for the crisis of 2022, when there was a series of negative news that raised the price 10 times. Gas supplies from Russia remained important in the last two winters despite the conflict. But now a total block on supplies will exacerbate an already difficult situation, with prices in the region of 40 euros per megawatt per hour. The situation is definitely better than two years ago, but it doesn’t help now, it’s not good news,’ Davide Tabarelli told RIA Novosti.
According to him, the greatest damage awaits the countries that are more dependent on Russia in terms of volumes – these are Eastern Europe, Hungary and the Czech Republic. At the same time, he emphasised that the whole of Europe is vulnerable. The minimum volume of gas supplied from Russia during the last two years was a guarantee that in case of a cold winter there would be no price increase, the expert explained. He pointed out that the gas price had already been raised in the last few weeks in anticipation of Kiev’s decision.
Tabarelli also recalled that the EU had previously imported 140 billion cubic metres of gas, but has now reduced it to 13.
‘This lack of supply was already very serious. Bringing them down to 13 will require new efforts. There are always volumes on the energy markets, you just have to pay for them, the question is how much,’ the expert concluded.
Earlier, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that Russia is going through a difficult period in the Russian history. He stressed that in the emerging conditions of the new world reality, ‘someone is striving to’ preserve its fading hegemony through Russia.
