Russia is a gas supplier of choice, Gazprom says

Foreign consumers continue to turn to Russia as the natural gas supplier of choice, the chairman of Russian energy company Gazprom said.

Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said Tuesday the volume of natural gas exports to European consumers was up 2.8 percent year-on-year.

"This demonstrates that foreign consumers continue to choose Russian gas," he said.

Gas exports to European consumers for 2013 were 16 percent higher than the previous year.

Miller gave no explanation for the fluctuation in gas deliveries to Europe.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said the annual inflation rate in the region was stable at 0.5 percent. Unemployment was reported Tuesday in the eurozone at 11.6 percent.

Russia meets about a quarter of Europe's gas needs, though most of that gas runs through a Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine.

Gazprom this year has started to focus more on Asian economies. A contract between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. is for 30 years and calls for 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year.