Gazprom

Moldova, under constant threat of a reduction in Russian gas supplies, will buy a small amount of gas from Greece to test new import routes, state energy company Energocom said on Thursday.

"If we differ on the most existential of issues, it will be hard to cooperate on other fronts," summarises Andrzej Sadecki, head of the Central Europe team and a Hungary specialist at OSW, the Warsaw-based Center for Eastern Studies.

Denmark has invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help recover a mystery object that was spotted near the pipeline, six months after sections were sabotaged.

Bulgaria has paid over 383 million euros for the purchase of Azeri gas in 2022. This was reported by the Russian news agency "Interfax" on Wednesday, citing unpublished data from the European Statistics Agency.

The amount represents an eightfold increase compared to the previous year, the agency notes.

In 2022, solar and wind power account for around 22% of EU electricity generation, the highest share in the EU to date. At the same time, the production of electricity from gas represents 20%, which is 1 pp. less than in 2021. This is reported by DPA, referring to a study by the Ember think tank.

A financial audit report by the Court of Accounts in Moldova on the economic activity of Moldovagaz, Gazprom's subsidiary in Moldova, revealed dubious "non-compliant" expenses of over 2 billion Moldovan lei [100 million euros] between 2011 and 2021.

 European countries will eventually resume higher imports of Russian gas, Qatar's energy minister and gas company CEO predicted on Saturday, warning that market volatility could last for years.    

Russian gas exports to Europe plunged after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, head of QatarEnergy, said the situation could change in the future.    

Azerbaijan has confirmed the supply of 12 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU in 2023, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.

The country will export a total of 24 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, half of which will go to Europe, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on state television.

So far, 8.1 billion cubic meters have been delivered annually.

"Bulgargaz could be sued by Russian energy giant Gazprom in an arbitration case, risking paying hundreds of millions of dollars." This was stated by the Acting Energy Minister Rosen Hristov during the parliamentary control.

Natural gas in Europe continues to fall in price at the start of the new year, falling below €70 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first time since the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine, which Russia launched on February 24, 2022.