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Russia’s natural-gas production will fall by 12% this year and its exports will decline by about a quarter, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, a sign that intentional pressure on the country from sanctions on oil is taking a toll.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak reportedly told Russia’s state news agency, TASS, that the drop in gas production compared with last year was largely due to the closure of export infrastructure.
Most of Russia’s natural-gas exports have been via pipelines, primarily to Europe.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP / AP Newsroom)
Russia’s energy exports have faced mounting pressure from international sanctions and efforts by Europe to limit purchases paid to Russia for oil and gas, all in an effort to deplete the Kremlin’s war chest in its attacks on Ukraine.
Novak said separately on Friday that Russia could cut oil output in response to the Western price caps instituted earlier this month, reducing its oil production by 500,000 to 700,000 barrels a day—which he said was a 5% to 7% reduction in capacity—by early next year.
Russian officials have downplayed the impact of the price ceilings and other sanctions on Russia’s oil-and-gas sector, the lifeblood of the country’s economy. (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP / AP Newsroom)
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The European Union and the U.K. have also banned seaborne shipments of Russian crude.
Russian officials have downplayed the impact of the price ceilings and other sanctions on Russia’s oil-and-gas sector, the lifeblood of the country’s economy.
Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Russian authorities have stopped publishing data on trade statistics, including for oil and gas production, in an effort to protect the economy and domestic companies from further sanctions.
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Without those numbers, independent verification of Moscow’s statements that it has been able to sanctions-proof its economy is complicated, according to WSJ.
