After a year in which Europe slashed its imports of Russian natural gas, OAO Gazprom says it sees signs of a turnaround, with European demand now exceeding precrisis levels.
Analysts, however, said Gazprom's customers had simply started buying bigger quantities of Russian gas late in the summer to take advantage of lower prices, not necessarily because the European economy was recovering.
Gazprom said its sales to Europe since July exceeded sales in the same period of 2007 and 2008. It said its European customers were buying 15% more on some days in October than they did a year earlier.
In part, that reflects the recovery under way in some of Europe's largest economies.
Germany, for example, saw an uptick in industrial production and gas-fired power generation this summer, which spurred demand for gas, according to oil-and-gas consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
Others say the picture is much less certain.
"There has been a rise in demand, but it's unclear if it's due to the underlying economic recovery or just the onset of winter," said Louise Boddy, a gas analyst at ICIS Heren.