Russian gas exports to Europe at lowest level in decades, down 44 percent
Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines fell by 44% in 2025, to the lowest level since the mid-1970s, after the closure of the Ukrainian route, as the European Union is phasing out fossil fuel imports from Russia.
The EU has said it will stop importing Russian gas by the end of 2027, as part of its efforts to overcome the bloc's dependence on Russian energy and to retain funds that could be used for its military campaign in Ukraine.
Previously, Europe was Russia's largest source of budget revenue from oil and gas sales, based on pipelines that were built from the Soviet Union to Western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.
Russian gas exports through pipelines to Europe peaked at more than 175-180 billion cubic meters per year in 2018-2019 and were worth tens of billions to Gazprom and the Russian state, which holds a controlling stake in the company.
But this year, Gazprom's supplies totaled only 18 billion cubic meters and were delivered via the TurkStream underwater pipeline.
According to Gazprom data, the Soviet Union supplied 19.3 billion cubic meters to Europe in 1975, up from 6.8 billion cubic meters in 1973, in the early years of Siberian gas exports.
TurkStream is the only remaining transit route for Russian gas to Europe, after Ukraine chose not to extend its five-year transit agreement with Moscow, which expired on January 1.
Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia are among the countries receiving gas via TurkStream in addition to Turkey. Russia also exports gas to Europe in liquid form via tankers and is the EU's second-largest supplier after the United States.
In December alone, supplies via TurkStream to Europe increased by 12.9% from the same month last year to around 56 million cubic meters per day. The data also showed that it was 3% higher than in November.
The data showed that exports via TurkStream to Europe have increased by about 7% this year from 16.8 billion cubic meters in 2024. Together with the Ukrainian route, exports reached 32 billion cubic meters in 2024, marking a 13% increase from 2023. Gazprom's exports to Turkey amount to about 20 billion cubic meters per year.
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