ST. PETERSBURG, October 10. /TASS/. Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that the state of the European gas market is bad and Europe is deliberately destroying demand for gas and, according to some estimates, committing "energy suicide."

"It is bad. What is happening on the European gas market has already received a stable definition of "artificial destruction of demand for gas," he said at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

"But there are also more severe assessments and expert opinions - some say that this can be called "energy suicide of Europe," while other experts say that we are witnessing how the economic driving force is turning into the sick man of Europe. And you know, one can agree with these words, since there really is a deliberate destruction of demand for gas," he added.

Gazprom CEO noted that the EU and the UK have reduced gas consumption by 9 billion cubic meters in the first 9 months of 2024, while the EU's gas spending has increased in 2023.

"Even such a low level and a declining level of demand for gas ultimately, as we see, requires huge financial spending," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the decline in demand for gas primarily affects European industry, Miller noted. "Everyone recognizes that the process of deindustrialization of the EU is in full swing, as they say," he said.