About half of Russia's natural gas exports to Europe still pass through Ukraine. The other half of Russia's pipeline gas exports to Europe pass through the Turk Stream, which flows under the Black Sea.
Gazprom supplies Europe via Ukraine with about 42 million cubic meters per day.
The Urengoi-Pomari-Uzhhorod pipeline will transport gas through Suzha in the Kursk region near Ukraine, the last operational transit point for Russian natural gas to Western and Central Europe.
About 14.65 billion cubic metres of gas will be delivered through Suzha in 2023, roughly half of Russia's natural gas exports to Europe. EU gas consumption fell to 295 billion cubic metres in 2023. A Gazprom worker walks next to a pipeline at a gas measuring station on the Russia-Ukraine border in Suzha, near Kursk, about 500km south of Moscow, on December 5, 2008. (Credit: REUTERS/DENIS SINYAKOV)
Ukrainian gas transmission operators announced that Russian gas transport via Ukraine reached 8 billion cubic meters in the first seven months of the year, up 10.5% from the same period last year.
The former Austro-Hungarian Empire relied on modern-day Russian gas
The gas pipeline, which is part of the Ukrainian Corridor, provides gas transportation in the direction of Slovakia, where it branches off: one branch goes to the Czech Republic, the other to Austria. The main buyers of gas are Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
In December 2019, Moscow and Kiev signed a long-term, five-year agreement to transport Russian gas through Ukraine: 45 billion cubic meters in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters per year from 2021 to 2024. The agreement to transport Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine expires in 2024, but Kiev has said it has no intention of extending it or signing a new contract.
In May 2022, Ukraine proposed to stop accepting transit gas through the Soklanovka terminal, which has a capacity of 30 million cubic meters per day, citing force majeure, and to transfer all traffic to Suzha.
Naftogaz filed suit against Gazprom in September 2022. The Ukrainian company demanded payment for transit costs through Ukraine, which were not paid in full because gas receipts through Soklanovka were halted.
