In April, Russian natural gas exports to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline experienced a significant decline, with average daily shipments falling to approximately 41 million cubic meters. This marks a year-on-year drop of about 1.7% and a more than 25% decrease compared to the previous month. These figures reflect ongoing market volatility amid various supply disruptions.
The recent downturn in gas flows is largely attributed to heightened instability in global energy markets, particularly influenced by events surrounding the Strait of Hormuz—a critical passage for oil and liquefied natural gas transport. As concerns over supply risks have intensified, gas prices have surged across international markets.
The TurkStream pipeline stands as Turkey’s primary transit route for Russian gas destined for Europe, especially following the anticipated expiration of the Russia–Ukraine gas transit agreement at the beginning of 2025. The pipeline stretches approximately 930 kilometers under the Black Sea, linking Russia’s coast near Anapa with Kiyikoy in Turkey before extending through Balkan infrastructure toward Central and Western Europe.
With a total annual transport capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters, roughly half of this volume is allocated for Turkey’s domestic consumption, while the remainder is reserved for European exports. In April, total Russian gas deliveries via TurkStream reached around 1.23 billion cubic meters, slightly lower than the 1.25 billion cubic meters recorded during the same month last year.
Despite these weaker figures for April, cumulative exports for the first four months of this year have shown an increase of about 7.3% compared to the same period in 2025, totaling nearly 6.2 billion cubic meters. This reflects a complex landscape where short-term declines coexist with longer-term trends.
The overall trajectory of Russian pipeline gas exports to Europe has been concerning, with estimates indicating a sharp decline of roughly 44% last year, resulting in exports plummeting to around 18 billion cubic meters. This figure represents the lowest export level since the 1970s, following disruptions to the Ukrainian transit route that had historically facilitated these shipments. In contrast, Russian gas exports to Europe peaked at nearly 180 billion cubic meters annually during 2018 and 2019.
