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energy), until CO2 pricing has been rolled out (which we expect by 2025).
TASS reported on 14 May, citing the Minister of Energy Nikolai Shulginov, that electricity consumption in Russia could exceed the level of pre-COVID 2019 level by 1% if present trends continue, and that adjusting for the temperature factor (with cold first months of the year), consumption is 2.5% higher than the last year. The news is supportive for the FY21 operating performance and thus the financials of the fossil-fuel gencos, taking into account the moderation of the water inflows, and thus hydro generation, from the peaks of 2020. However, OPEC+ continues to weigh on electricity demand. 1Q21 operating results for thermal gencos have already been impressive, with 10%+ growth for some names. Thus the cold winter, along with the RSV price recovery, partially or fully offsets the effect of DPM for certain units.
Gazprom expects demand for gas to grow within the coming decades and for it to play an even bigger role in energy consumption than renewable sources and hydrogen, Nasdaq reported citing Reuters.
The forecasts run contrary to a world trend for an energy transition from fossil fuels to the employment of environment-friendly renewable sources of energy, like solar and alternative energy, so as to slow climate change.
Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Oleg Aksyutin told a web-briefing that the corporate was still considering a carbon neutrality scenario as a part of its 2050 low-carbon development strategy. The plan is to finish work on the strategy by May 2022.
The United Nations are urging serious cuts in methane emissions, in addition to carbon dioxide, as efforts intensify to avert detrimental global warming.
Russian leaders and senior management, on the other hand, have consistently described natural gas as a climate-friendly energy source, despite the fact that it is largely made up of methane and is not carbon-free.
According to Aksyutin, natural gas is expected to account for nearly 40% of additional electricity production in 2020-2040, compared to 34% from renewables.
Gazprom’s presentation revealed that combined gas demand in Europe and China, the company’s major supply markets, is forecast to reach nearly 1 trillion cubic meters per year by 2030, up from 865bn cubic meters in 2020.
Electricity export. Russia’s electricity exports climbed 2.2-fold in January-April 2021 year-on-year to 8.1bn kW per hour. Electricity export supplies in April 2021 rose 1.8-fold in annual terms to 1.6bn kW per hour. Russia’s year-to-date electricity imports equaled 0.2bn kW per hour, according to the report.
The Duma approved the Federal Law on Emissions at the First Reading.
138 RUSSIA Country Report June 2021 www.intellinews.com