Russia’s state-backed gas company reported higher gas sales to Europe again last quarter as energy importers continue to deepen their reliance on the gas giant.

Gazprom’s sales climbed by 4.4pc to R1.8tn ($31bn) in the first three months of the year as the appetite for gas grows within Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Although the UK does not directly import gas from Russia, Gazprom’s largest European customers are in Germany and the Netherlands, which are closely connected to the UK gas grid through two major pipelines.

Russian gas volumes sold by the Kremlin-controlled company to Europe and some neighbouring countries grew by 13pc in the first months of this year to 65.6 billion cubic meters.

According to market specialists at Icis the amount of Russian gas that flowed into the European gas grid, excluding Baltic states, reached 42.3 billion cubic meters in the first quarter, well above the 37bcm in the same quarter last year and 25.8bcm in the first months of 2015.

Gazprom’s strong quarter for exports began with an all-time daily high in the first week of the year. The gas giant pumped a record 615.5 million cubic meters of gas to countries outside the former Soviet Union on January 6 amid a cold snap across Europe.