Natural gas in Russia

The United States has granted an exemption to Turkey and Hungary, allowing them to continue making payments for Russian natural gas supplied through Gazprombank, despite the sanctions imposed on the Russian bank.

Turkey has received an exemption for gas payments to Russia after the United States imposed sanctions on Gazprombank, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Friday in response to a question from Reuters.

Turkey is in talks with the United States and Russia in an attempt to secure a US sanctions waiver so it can continue paying Gazprombank for Russian natural gas imports, Turkish authorities said.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar emphasized the potential impact of U.S. sanctions on Russian energy company Gazprom, stating that Türkiye could be significantly affected if not granted an exemption.

Hungary and Russia's energy giant Gazprom have signed an agreement allowing Budapest to fully utilize the TurkStream gas pipeline, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó confirmed to RIA Novosti, as reported by Reuters. This arrangement enables Hungary to increase gas volumes purchased under its existing trade contracts, providing greater flexibility in its energy supply.

A recent energy market study reveals that, for the first time in nearly two years, the European Union imported more natural gas from Russia than from the United States during a single quarter, DPA reported.

It's one of the more improbable aspects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Even after 2 1/2 years of war and repeated rounds of sanctions, Russian natural gas keeps flowing through Ukraine's pipeline network to customers in Europe.

Imports of natural gas from Russia reached an all-time high energy equivalent of 3.69 terawatt-hours in July, at the expense of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which was supposed to lessen our dependence on Russian gas.

Gazprom reported a record loss of 480.6 billion rubles (about 5.6 billion US dollars) for the first half of the year. This follows last year's annual loss of 629 billion rubles (approximately 6.9 billion dollars), the first in over two decades. In 2022, Gazprom had recorded a profit of 1.23 trillion rubles.

A comprehensive report commissioned by Gazprom, conducted by external analysts, reveals a bleak outlook for the company's future in Europe. The analysis indicates that Gazprom is unlikely to regain its pre-war export levels to Europe, its primary market, until at least 2035, if ever. The report, spanning 151 pages, was exclusively cited by the Financial Times.