YANTAI, China, September 11, 2023 – A large LNG tank deck ship loaded with liquefied natural gas imported from Malaysia is docked at the Longkou Port area of Yantai Port in Yantai, Shandong province, China, September 11, 2023.
Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines running through Ukraine came to a halt on New Year’s Day, marking the end of decades of Moscow’s dominance over Europe’s energy markets. Despite nearly three years of war, the gas had kept flowing, but Russia’s gas firm Gazprom said it stopped at 0500 GMT after Ukraine refused to renew a transit agreement.
The widely expected stoppage will not impact prices for consumers in the European Union, unlike in 2022, when falling supplies from Russia sent prices to record highs, worsened a cost-of-living crisis, and hit the bloc’s competitiveness. The last remaining EU buyers of Russian gas via Ukraine, such as Slovakia and Austria, have arranged alternative supplies.
Hungary will continue to receive Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea. Transdniestria, a breakaway pro-Russian region of Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova, reliant on the transit flows, cut off heating and hot water supplies to households early on Wednesday. Local energy company Tirasteploenergo urged residents to dress warmly, hang blankets or thick curtains over windows and balcony doors, and use electric heaters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app, “The end of gas transit through my country to Europe is one of Moscow’s biggest defeats and urged the U.S. to supply more gas to Europe. “The more there is on the market from Europe’s real partners, the faster we will overcome the last negative consequences of European energy dependence on Russia,” he wrote.
Europe’s “joint task” is now to support ex-Soviet Moldova “in this period of energy transformation.” The European Commission said the EU had prepared for the cut-off. “The European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin,” a spokesperson for the Commission said. “It has been reinforced with significant new LNG import capacities since 2022.”