LONDON — Russia has opted against sending more natural gas supplies to Europe, curbing hopes that Moscow may ease its grip on the market shortly after President Vladimir Putin said the country would be prepared to help.

The highly anticipated auction results showed that Gazprom, Russia’s largest state gas company, had not reserved additional gas transit capacity in November through its Ukrainian pipeline network or via lines to western Europe via Poland.

Gazprom has booked volumes through Ukraine, but only 30,000,000 cubic meters per Day on its Yamal-Europe route, which is 86.5 million cubic metres per day.

Auction results can be regarded as an a key signal to the marketThese volumes are two- to three weeks before the natural gas flow month.

Analysts in energy say that Russia’s results are not likely to speed up its efforts to supply the region with more supplies. It also provides evidence that Russia seeks to ease the start of commercial flows through the use of the internet. Nord Stream 2 — a contentious natural gas pipelineIt is designed to bring Russian gas direct to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

The announcement comes shortly after Putin proposed the country could provide additional supply to EuropeAt a time where millions are confronted with skyrocketing winter energy costs.

CNBC’s Hadley Gamble interviewed the Russian President at Russian Energy Week Oct. 13. He also denied that the country used gas as a geopolitical tool.

The Russian natural gas flow to Europe from Russia has been volatile since September. adding to market anxiety and skyrocketing prices

November contracts at the Dutch TTF hub — a European benchmark for natural gas — traded at around 92 euros per megawatt hour on Tuesday morning. Although the front-month contract fell by 2%, it has risen nearly 400% in the past year.

EU legislators and Naftogaz’s head have accused Gazprom before. deliberately withholding additional volumes of gas to EuropeThis will only worsen the regional energy crisis.

International Energy Agency in a rare public rebuke of RussiaIn September, the, issued another statement calling on Moscow to provide more gas for Europe as a way to relieve the regional supply crisis.

Russia claims it is fully in compliance with its obligations towards Europe.

On Monday, Nord Stream 2, a Swiss operator, said that it had filled its first pipeline line with “technical gas” and is now ready to receive commercial flow.

According to Tom Marzec Manser (lead European gas analyst, ICIS), a commodity intelligence agency, “This new development raised the possibility that not as many capacity would be booked via auctions via Poland or Ukraine as Gazprom would like to prioritize throughput for its new asset rather than paying for additional capacity.”

Nord Stream 2 construction was finished last month. Germany’s energy regulator stated that it will take four months for the project to be certified after receiving all paperwork required for an operating licence.

Kateryna Filippenko from Wood Mackenzie’s principal analyst on European gas research, stated that the European gas imbalance is tightening in the winter. This raises the possibility that Russian gas may not be able to provide more supply flexibility.

“The completion of the gas-in procedures at Nord Stream 2, coupled with no significant capacity bookings on other routes seems to send a strong signal to Europe — Gazprom might be ready to supply more gas, but conditional on Nord Stream 2 getting a green light.”

Nord Stream 2 opponents argue that it is incompatible with European climate goals. The pipeline increases dependence on Russian oil exports and will probably increase Putin’s economic and political power over the region.