Europe will look to import 25 per cent more Russian pipeline gas as of 2020, Gazprom has said as it gears up for a record year. The country’s pipeline gas export monopoly said requests from both existing and new buyers indicated European demand would jump by a quarter.

Gazprom is expected to export record gas volumes this year and next, a senior company official said on Monday, reiterating predictions made in June. Rising demand comes despite persisting criticism in the EU over the region’s dependence on Russian gas, and calls for a search for alternative gas sources.

“We are already receiving requests for additional export volumes starting 2020. The additional demand by our traditional as well as new buyers stands around 50 Bcm per year,” deputy chair of the company’s management committee Alexander Medvedev said on a conference call, according to Financial Times.

Meanwhile, Gazprom’s 2018 and 2019 exports to Europe and Turkey are expected to set the third annual record in a row and exceed 200 Bcm, which “is getting very close to the volume of our annual contracted volumes,” he said.

“Today, at the start of December, one can say with a high degree of certainty that the volume will exceed 200 Bcm [in 2018],” Mr Medvedev said, reiterating the company’s June forecast. “I believe more than 200 Bcm will be exported in 2019, too.”