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Russia Seeks New Gas Buyers in Africa After Losing More Than Half of Gazprom’s Exports
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Russia is turning to African countries in search of new markets for Gazprom after the state gas giant lost more than half of its exports outside the former Soviet Union following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Moscow Times reported on October 16.
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev announced that Moscow was prepared to supply gas to African countries while offering exploration, extraction, and broader energy infrastructure services.
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“Our country can offer a comprehensive solution: modernize existing hydroelectric plants, build solar and thermal power stations, lay networks, supply substations and transformers, and create power-system management and dispatch centers,” Tsivilev stated.
Tsivilev added that Moscow views Africa as a “long-term market,” The Moscow Times reported.
The push comes as Gazprom struggles to replace European customers lost since 2022. According to estimates from Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development cited by The Moscow Times, Russian gas exports are expected to total about 77 billion cubic meters in 2026, down from 185 billion in 2021 and roughly 200 billion at the end of the 2010s.
The ministry projects exports falling further to 72 billion cubic meters by 2028, after the EU gas embargo takes effect. The Moscow Times noted that this would return Russian gas exports to levels last seen in the second half of the 1980s.
Russia has also struggled to secure a major new gas agreement with China. The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, has sought to increase annual supplies to China to as much as 100 billion cubic meters, but negotiations have stalled over pricing.
According to sources cited by the South China Morning Post, Beijing wants Russian gas priced at around $50 per thousand cubic meters, close to what Russian households pay, or roughly $120-$130 for industrial consumers.
Moscow, however, wants pricing closer to the approximately $250-$260 per thousand cubic meters China currently pays for gas delivered through Power of Siberia 1. That price already represents a discount of roughly 40% compared with Gazprom’s contracts with other foreign customers, which average about $420 per thousand cubic meters.
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The Moscow Times reported that negotiations over the proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which Putin has renamed “Power of Baikal,” are currently suspended because of the disagreement over price.
On October 13, Zelenskyy warned that Russia’s blockade of maritime routes could trigger food shortages across parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East within one to two months by restricting Ukrainian grain exports.
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