Russia may receive a record $100 billion for gas supplies to Europe this year against the backdrop of surging prices for the blue fuel, claims a columnist for the French newspaper Les Echos, citing data from Citi analysts.
Despite “sanctions, loud statements and promises of an embargo,” Vincent Colin pointed out that EU member-states funnel $200 million-worth of payments to Gazprom daily.
“Thanks to the surge in prices, Russia should receive $100 billion for gas delivered to Europe this year, which is almost twice as much as in the past, when prices were already high. And this is without taking into account revenues from oil, coal and other raw materials,” stated the author.
Even if the EU starts buying less gas, the jump in prices will compensate for the drop in supplies, insisted the report. Such a profit reaped by Gazprom, according to Colin, has already fully covered the costs of laying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
