On the first day of auctions Gazprom couldn’t sell gas

Gazprom, which yesterday began the first experiment on selling gas to Europe through auctions, has already begun thinking about expanding this practice. According to opinion of the Kommersant’s interlocutors, the Ukrainian direction could be perspective, as in this case the problem of the transit would be solved - the responsibility for it would be laid on European buyer. But on the first day of the auctions there wasn’t bidding, in fact: Gazprom doesn’t want to sell gas cheaper than on long-term contracts, and in this case consumers don’t see the point of its purchase.

Gazprom is ready to extend the application of the export gas sales at auctions to other routes in addition to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, said yesterday the deputy chairman of the monopoly Alexander Medvedev after the start of the first export auction in its history. Head of Gazprom export Elena Burmistrova added that the use of Nord Stream is caused by the fact that it has spare capacity: "We can consider other points of the delivery and other systems, but today the most optimal is Nord Stream".