Gazprom is planning to increase gas supplies to Europe by the end of the year

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The Russian gas supplier Gazprom expects that natural gas exports to Europe will increase by 10 percent through the end of the year. The company’s Management Committee Chairman Alexey Miller made such a statement in an interview to a Russian news agency TASS.

"Currently we expect a 10% increase and there are no factors triggering a downtrend,” the official said on Monday. "There is a sustainable demand for Russian gas, and it keeps growing. Even in case the demand is not growing but keeps at its level those 10% will be there.”

Miller also added that the two last quarters of the year usually represent “peak demand quarters” for Gazprom, meaning total gas supplies to Europe may exceed 170 billion cubic meters by the end of 2016.

Last week Gazprom announced its intention to continue gas supplies to Europe via Belarus as well as shipping its contracted gas volumes to Belarus itself notwithstanding an ongoing price dispute with Minsk. It was also reported that Gazprom continues its work on preparing Belarus' gas transportation system for the upcoming fall-winter season to ensure stable supplies.