Europe still clinging to Russian gas supply



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MOSCOW: The EU hosts Tuesday talks between Moscow and Kiev on the role of gas transit of Ukraine, while Europe imports more and more Russian gas despite the desire to reduce its dependence on Moscow.

Here is where Europe stands in terms of energy dependence on Russia:

European demand for Russian gas declined between 2010 and 2014 – when a popular Kiev uprising overthrew a Moscow-backed regime and Russia annexed Crimea and supported an insurgency in the east of the former Soviet Union.

Since then, it has risen due to a decline in European production, especially in the Netherlands.

The continent's dependence on imported gas has particularly benefited the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which holds 17% of the world's gas reserves.

Gazprom is controlled more than 50% by the Russian state and is often considered a powerful geopolitical weapon at the disposal of the Kremlin.

The company currently accounts for more than a third of European gas consumption.

Exports to Europe in 2016 and 2017, mainly due to a cold winter. Earlier this year, Gazprom announced a new record export volume.

Russian gas currently arrives in Europe via several pipelines – Nord Stream 1 carries gas to Germany, while two gas pipelines arrive in Poland via Belarus.

Four others transit through Ukraine, as well as a separate gas pipeline to Turkey and direct deliveries to Finland and the Baltic countries.

But Gazprom is seeking to develop new pipelines, with financial support from major European groups, to maintain its market share and minimize transits across Ukraine.

The company hopes to put into operation two new pipelines that will bypbad Ukraine by the end of 2019: TurkStream, via Turkey, and Nord Stream 2, via the Baltic Sea.

The European Commission has reservations about the projects.

Without being able to oppose it, he wants to make sure that the new pipelines comply with the rules of the European energy market, particularly in terms of competition.

Poland and the eastern European countries are the most opposed to the new businesses of their former Soviet master.

Despite Europe's desire to diversify its suppliers, alternative sources are struggling to gain ground.

The United States, a major natural gas producer, has recently embarked on a commercial offensive in search of new markets, with the support of President Donald Trump.

But the transportation of liquefied natural gas is still much more expensive than the transport of Russian gas by pipelines.

The main British oil company BP has started operating in Azerbaijan a gigantic gas field which will be the first section of the "southern gas corridor" that will transport to Europe via Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea.

It should be finished by 2020.

But the experts say that the project, launched in the early 2000s, is already outdated and will finally cover only 2% of European demand.

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