Russia will continue uninterrupted supplies of gas, LNG to global markets: Putin

Russia intends to continue uninterrupted supplies of gas and LNG to global markets, President Vladimir Putin said Feb. 22 amid escalation of geopolitical tensions with Ukraine.

In his address to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum summit in Doha, Putin said Russia would improve the existing infrastructure and increase investment in the gas sector.

His comments come the day after Putin publicly recognized eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions as breakaway states, pledging support in their conflict with Kyiv.

In response, Western leaders promised to impose new sanctions against Russia immediately, the severity of which will depend on Putin's next steps in the conflict.

S&P Global Platts Analytics assumes much broader sanctions under a full conflict scenario would impact Russian exports of oil and natural gas .

In his speech, Putin noted rising role of gas during energy transition and recovery of the market from the pandemic.

"It is in the interests of the world community to ensure that the energy transition does not turn into a means of advancing political and economic interests of individual players and, moreover, is not accompanied by sanctions or other restrictions," the Russian leader said.

Despite rising tensions in Ukraine, European gas prices slightly retreated Feb. 21 on the possibility of Putin and US President Joe Biden holding a summit in the coming days, as well as robust LNG supply.

Platts assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF day-ahead price at Eur71.6/MWh on Feb. 21, up more than fourfold on the year.