Russian gas exports through Ukraine to Europe were stable on Thursday, data showed, a day after Austria’s OMV said it had terminated its long-term gas supply contract with Kremlin-controlled Gazprom.

Russia’s overall gas exports via the route have held steady despite the stoppage of flows from Gazprom to OMV in mid-November over a contractual dispute and legal wranglings as other buyers stepped in to buy the volumes.

Russian gas has kept flowing into Austria via a pipeline through Ukraine and Slovakia, albeit at lower volumes now OMV has been cut off. The spat has placed a spotlight on Austria’s continued reliance on Russian gas even though it has made contingencies for a cut-off and has large volumes in storage.

Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as on Wednesday.

Nominations for flows to Austria from Slovakia and to the Czech Republic from Slovakia on Thursday were similar to recent days, data from transmission system operator Eustream showed.

Nominations for natural gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine were also in line with recent volumes.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Jan Lopatka in Prague. Editing by Tom Hogue and Mark Potter)