MOSCOW (Realist English). Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow is ready to continue gas supplies to the European Union if surplus volumes remain after servicing alternative markets.
“Russia is ready to continue gas supplies to the European Union if volumes remain after supplies to alternative markets,” TASS quoted Peskov as saying.
At the same time, the Kremlin representative noted that even if Russian gas were completely cut off, Europe would find a way to acquire it. “Europe will find a way to buy gas even if Russia does not supply it,” Peskov added.
Recall that after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine and the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions, the European Union set a goal of abandoning Russian gas. In 2025, the share of Russian pipeline gas in European imports fell to minimal levels. However, European countries continue to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia, which was not subject to sanctions.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly stated that Moscow is ready to supply gas through the remaining route of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline via Poland (after Warsaw refused transit) and through TurkStream and Blue Stream. In March 2026, European gas prices rose to highs not seen since autumn 2025 amid the Middle East conflict and the suspension of transit through Ukraine.
The second week of April became a turning point for the Russian oil and gas sector: prices for the flagship Urals grade reached 13-year highs, export revenue hit records, and budget revenues from the Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) could double, according to analyst estimates. However, amid geopolitical turbulence, the sector faces risks of sanctions pressure, drone attacks, and transit uncertainty.
According to Argus Media, on April 2, 2026, the price of Russian Urals oil when loading at the Primorsk port reached $116.05 per barrel — the highest in 13 years. The increase resulted from a global price surge amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Russia’s 2026 budget is based on an Urals price of about $59 per barrel. The Urals discount to Brent in Russian ports remained at $27.75 per barrel (the lowest since December 2025), while in Indian ports the discount fell by almost a quarter to $8.85 per barrel, indicating high demand for Russian crude in Asia.
The first week of April 2026 was a record for Russian oil exports: weekly revenue reached $2.02 billion — the highest since June 2022. At the beginning of April, exports of Russian crude oil from western ports increased compared to March. Russian seaborne oil exports exceeded 4 million barrels per day by the end of March.
According to Reuters estimates, MET revenues in April could double compared to March, reaching 700 billion rubles (about $9 billion) — a record level since the beginning of 2025. Despite the increase, in March the budget fell short of planned oil and gas revenues by 234.3 billion rubles, and for the first quarter of 2026 the deficit amounted to 569.7 billion rubles.
