Russia’s top natural gas producer Gazprom said on Wednesday it expected to produce 444.4 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas this year, an all-time low, down from 487.4 bcm last year.
A company spokesman also said Gazprom had just received a $1.65 billion payment from Ukraine to cover the country’s gas debts.
He also said Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz had used up only 300 million cubic metres of Russian gas so far in December out of 1 bcm which Ukraine has already paid for. The unused volumes will be shipped in January, he added.