"Today’s developments are going to be a massive shock for gas prices as Europe is now going to struggle to refill its storages ahead of next winter if this reduction is for an extended period of time," ICIS analyst Tom Marzec-Manser described to the FT on Wednesday of the previously reported Gazprom announced major reduction in natural gas flows through Nord Stream 1 to Germany, which took effect Thursday.
At this point, now nearly four months into the invasion of Ukraine, Russian gas flows to European clients have plummeted to their lowest levels since 2014, Bloomberg has noted. But at the same time, Reuters is reporting that "Russia’s Gazprom increased gas supplies to China by 67% in the first five months of this year, the company’s CEO Alexei Miller said on Thursday."
It was also on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their second phone call since the Ukraine war began. Xi told Putin that China is "willing to continue to offer mutual support (to Russia) on issues concerning core interests and major concerns such as sovereignty and security," as quoted in state broadcaster CCTV.
Just on the heels of the Putin-Xi call, Gazprom essentially declared no gas for Western Europe while assuring "energy stability for Russia's friends". CEO of Gazprom Alexey Miller had this to say before the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which is continuing through the end of the week:
"Russia represents energy stability, and also Russia is a supplier of energy stability for its friends," he said.
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