According to data from the Russian Federal Customs Service, Germany, a traditional pioneer in European purchases of Russian pipeline gas, continued to aggressively increase the rate of Russian gas purchases in March 2021, TASS reports.
Germany boosted Gazprom’s gas supply to 4.44 billion cubic meters in March, up 66.3 percent from March 2020. Germany’s imports of Russian gas increased at the same pace in February 2021.
Serbia, which received 245.5 million cubic meters of Russian gas in March 2021 (an increase of 138 percent in annual terms and 2.86 percent in monthly terms), Bulgaria, which imported 269.8 million cubic meters of Russian gas (an increase of 51.41 percent in annual terms and 24.48 percent in monthly terms), and Hungary, which purchased 763.7 million cubic meters of gas.
Greece increased its gas imports from Russia by 35.9% in March this year relative to March 2020, to 276.1 million cubic meters. This statistic rose by 22.5 percent as compared to February 2021. According to data from the Federal Customs Service, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, and Serbia have been steadily increasing their imports of Russian gas since the beginning of 2021.
In annual terms, Russian gas supplies to Belarus rose by 9.8% in March 2021, to 1.967 billion cubic meters. In February 2021, this number represents the amount of Russian gas supplies.