Europe still depends on Russian gas | Business



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Europe imports more and more Russian gas, although it wants to reduce its dependence on Moscow

Here are some facts about Europe's energy dependence towards Russia:

Increasing dependence

the Moscow regime was overthrown and Russia annexed Crimea and the separatist part of eastern Ukraine, demand for Russian gas in Europe has dropped.

However, since then, it has increased again. The gas is particularly useful for the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which controls 17%. global gas reserves. The Russian state has more than 50%.

The company currently supplies more than a third of the gas consumed in Europe

Gazprom's exports to Europe have increased sharply in 2016 and 2017, mainly due ;cold winter.

Controlled Gas Pipelines

Russian gas is currently supplied by Europe through several pipelines – the "Nord Stream 1" gas pipeline provides gas to Germany and two other gas pipelines are under construction. to Poland via Belarus.

Four other gas pipelines cross the territory of Ukraine. There is also a separate gas pipeline to Turkey.

However, Gazprom, financially supported by major European groups, is seeking to build a new gas pipeline in order to maintain its market share and to minimize the transit of gas in Ukraine

The company plans to supply gas to Finland and the Baltic States. From here the end of the year 2019, two new pipelines will be launched that will bypbad Ukraine: TurkStream through Turkey and North Stream 2 across the Baltic Sea

The European Commission has some doubts about these projects.

She can not oppose it. However, it wants to make sure that the new pipelines comply with the rules of the European energy market, particularly with regard to competition.

Poland and eastern European countries most opposed to new Russian projects

suppliers find it difficult to establish in the region.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still much more expensive than the delivery of Russian gas by pipelines

The British oil giant BP has launched a huge gas field in July Azerbaijan, which will become the first link of the "Southern Gas Corridor". This route will allow Europe to reach Europe via Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea – expected since 2020.

However, experts say that this project, started at the beginning of the century, is already obsolete and will only cover 2%. demand for gas in Europe

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