Russia Slashes Natural Gas Export Forecasts Amid Ukraine Tensions

Russia's economy ministry has revised its natural gas production and export forecasts downward due to deteriorating economic and political relations with the West over the war in Ukraine.

The draft document, seen by Reuters, indicates that Russia will produce and export less natural gas than previously forecast this year. The new estimates show a 5.3 billion cubic meter reduction in production for 2026 compared to May's projections, but still exceeding last year's output of 662.7 billion cubic meters.

Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines peaked in 2018 and 2019 at around 180 billion cubic meters per year, but fell 44% last year to just 18 billion cubic meters after the closure of the transit route through Ukraine.