Putin orders Gazprom to up EU gas supplies in November

Putin orders Gazprom to up EU gas supplies in November

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, held online on a live video conference, in his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow, on Wednesday (AFP photo) (MENAFN- Jordan Times) MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed energy giant Gazprom to increase natural gas supplies to Germany and Austria next month after allocating sufficient reserves for Russia. Moscow has been accused in Europe of exacerbating an energy crisis on the continent that has seen gas prices surpass records in recent weeks as economies ramp up after seeing pandemic restrictions eased. Putin told Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller Wednesday to finish filling Russian storage facilities by November 8 and to then "start to gradually increase the volume of gas in your underground storage facilities in Europe — Austria and Germany". During a televised meeting with energy officials, Putin said this timeline would make it possible for Gazprom to "fulfil your contractual obligations to supply European partners with gas in the autumn-winter period". The Russian leader added that the scheduled supplies would create "a more favourable situation in the energy market in Europe as a whole". Europe is in the throes of an energy crisis with gas