News about Gas

The eurozone economy will grow more slowly than expected in the coming years. Economists have revised their forecast downward following a new conflict in the Middle East, which has once again threatened oil and gas supplies.

The U.S. will impose a 20% fee on all cargo transported through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the fee for passage through this key shipping route in the Middle East. He posted this on his personal page on Truth Social.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Washington may take over security operations in the Strait of Hormuz and expects to receive financial compensation for doing so.

In the first half of 2026, the European Union imported more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia’s flagship “Yamal LNG” project than ever before. EU purchases reached a record 9.89 million metric tons in the first six months of the year—an 18% increase over the same period last year. According to Urgewald, Europe paid up to €6 billion for the shipments.

Member of Parliament Constantin Cuiumju pointed out discrepancies between the official information regarding the cost of the audit of Moldovagaz’s historical debt and the public statements made by former Energy Minister Victor Parlicov. In light of this, the lawmaker said he would ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate how public funds were spent.

Demand for transport capacity on the Vertical Gas Corridor exceeded expectations last week, even during the very first auctions for capacity reservations. Interest from market participants underscores the growing role of this new gas supply route to Southeast Europe, which is set to become one of the alternatives to Russian gas.

Germany has faced an unexpected consequence of its decision to stop using Russian gas. The system of mandatory filling of underground gas storage facilities, established after the energy crisis to ensure the reliability of supplies, has now itself become a source of additional costs and debate about the future of the gas market.

Constantin Cuiumju, a member of parliament from “Our Party,” stated that government representatives on the Moldovagaz Supervisory Board rejected a proposal to cancel payments to board members, even though Gazprom had put forward that initiative.

During a meeting in Chisinau, Corina Călugaru, State Secretary of the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ulvi Bahshaliyev, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Moldova, discussed the current state of bilateral relations and prospects for expanding cooperation in the economic, energy, agriculture, and transportation sectors.

Qatar has temporarily suspended the development of new projects aimed at increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. This is a significant signal for the global gas market.

National legislation will establish a mechanism for coordinating and approving energy infrastructure projects of strategic importance, which will ensure priority treatment for projects developed in partnership with European Union member states.

Constantin Cuiumju, a member of the “Our Party” faction in the Moldovan Parliament, is demanding that the leadership of Energocom appear before Parliament after the company spent approximately 18 million lei on a billing information system that was supposed to go live on June 1, but has not yet been put into operation.

Russia has increased its seaborne oil exports to their highest level since 2022. Over the past four weeks, average shipments have reached 4.22 million barrels per day, Bloomberg reports, citing tanker tracking data.

The German government intends to establish a national strategic natural gas reserve for use in emergencies. The project, costing up to 1.5 billion euros, is designed to ensure the stability of the energy supply in the event of disruptions to fuel imports or attacks on critical infrastructure.

For the first time since the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and the reopening of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, a Qatari gas tanker was attacked and caught fire on July 7.

One of Georgia’s largest industrial projects—the oil refinery in Kulevi—will completely cease processing Russian crude oil starting in August–September 2026. This was announced by Black Sea Petroleum, the company that operates the facility.

The Danish shipyard Fayard remains the last facility in the European Union that continues to service specialized Arc7 ice-class gas carriers used to transport Russian liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG project.

Sergey K., a Ukrainian national, is believed to have played a key role in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. He has been in a pretrial detention center for several months. Now, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office has upgraded the charges against him: instead of “subversion against the constitutional order,” the charges now involve war crimes.

In Moldova, on June 30, 2026, Law No. 119 of June 26, 2026, on the security of petroleum product supplies, entered into force. The purpose of the law is to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework necessary to ensure the security of petroleum product supplies by creating an effective storage system.

Romania has increased its natural gas supplies to Moldova by 50% compared to last year, raising them from 2 million m³ to 3 million m³ per day.