ST.PETERSBURG, October 5. /TASS/. Gas exports by Gazprom to Europe in 2021 will continue to remain high, said Vitaly Markelov, deputy head of the holding, during the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum on Tuesday.

Markelov said that the current domestic gas consumption in Russia exceeds the indicators of 2019 and 2020, and the heating season began two weeks earlier than in 2019. "By the day we are exceeding more than 200 mln cubic meters of gas consumption in our country relative to 2020," he said.

Earlier it was reported that the volume of gas production by the Gazprom group in 2021 will grow by 55 bln cubic meters and will exceed 510 bln cubic meters, this will be a production level record for the last 10 years. The plan is to export 183 bln cubic meters of gas to Europe this year.

Gazprom also raised its forecast for the average export price of gas in Europe in 2021 to $269.6 per 1,000 cubic meters. Since the beginning of 2021, according to preliminary data, Gazprom has increased gas export to non-CIS countries for nine months by 15.3% (by 19.3 bln cubic meters), to 145.8 bln cubic meters, reaching the second highest indicator for the same time period for the entire history of deliveries.