Russia-Ukraine conflict could reshape Europe's natural gas reliance

Europe relies on Russia's natural gas to help heat millions of homes, generate electricity and power factories

Topics
Europe | Russia | natural gas

Josh Holder Karl Russell & Stanley Reed | NYT 

Russia Ukraine crisis
Photo: Bloomberg

relies on Russia’s to help heat millions of homes, generate electricity and power factories. With Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s border, Europe’s heavy dependence on is limiting its diplomatic options and may throw its energy supplies into turmoil.

Analysts and industry executives are sceptical that Putin would cut off gas, in part because of how important gas exports are to his country’s

In 2021, 38 per cent of the used by the EU came from Russia, according to Bruegel, a research organisation. Some countries, like Poland and Lithuania, have been gradually reducing their reliance on For others, the dependency has been steadily growing.

chart

Germany, which is at the centre of the diplomatic stand-off, is Moscow’s most important customer. The bulk of the gas to Germany flows directly from through a large pipeline in the Baltic Sea known as Nord Stream. A second pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was recently completed at a cost of $11 billion. Fuel has yet to flow through Nord Stream 2. Critics warn that the new pipeline could allow Moscow to wield greater influence over the continent and starve of transit fees through its existing pipeline network that are crucial to Kyiv’s

©2022 The New York Times News Service

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First Published: Tue, February 15 2022. 23:51 IST
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