Russian gas exports fell 25.1% in 2022, weighed down by international sanctions, while oil exports rose 7.6% over the same period, the deputy prime minister said on Monday.
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The collapse in gas exports is “due to the refusal of European countries to buy Russian gas, as well as the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines,” Alexander Novak said in an article published on Russia’s specialized website Energy Politics”.
This announcement comes after nearly a year of conflict in Ukraine and a flurry of international sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector to limit Moscow’s revenue to fund its military offensive.
The European Union, once the largest buyer of Russian gas, drastically reduced its imports over the course of 2022.
Overall, Russian gas exports “decreased by 25.1% to 184.4 billion cubic meters” with a total production “of 673.8 billion m3”, specified Mr. Novak.
However, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister was pleased to see “the growth potential of gas supplies from the Asia-Pacific region,” led by China, whose gas supplies to the Russian Far East via the “Force of Siberia” “up 48% and reached 2022 an all-time high of 15.4 billion m3”.
Although Europeans have all but stopped importing Russian gas via pipelines, they continue to buy smaller quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from numerous Russian reserves, which are transported by sea on LNG tankers.
Its global exports “grew 7.9% last year” to 45.7 billion m3, Mr Novak noted on Monday.
On the black gold side, Russia has increased its oil exports by 7.6% to 242 million tons in 2022, despite the European embargo and the export price cap imposed by the European Union, the G7 and Australia since early December.
Particularly energy-consuming countries, such as India and China, have increased their demand for Russian crude oil sharply in the past year – benefiting from significant price reductions and the reorientation of the Russian strategy towards Asia – as has Turkey, for example.
“This year, more than 80 percent of oil exports and 75 percent of oil products are expected to go to ‘friendly countries,'” Novak said on Monday.