Rochelle Toplensky of The Wall Street Journal writes that it may take some time for Europe to ween off of Russian gas.
- Some 40% of Europe’s gas imports come from Russia while 70% of pipeline sales from Russia’s state-run gas company go to Western Europe.
- The EU has recently taken steps to wean off of Russian gas such as including nuclear and natural gas as green investments and looking to countries other than Russia to provide LNG.
- Even as Europe has looked elsewhere for its fossil fuel supply, it will still likely remain heavily dependent on Russia for the foreseeable future.
“The gas crunch, coinciding with fresh tensions between Russia and Ukraine, has moved energy security back up the agenda. The EU has proposed new rules to improve gas storage and enable joint buying of strategic stocks. Interest in long-term supply agreements is increasing and officials are speaking to Azerbaijan, Qatar and the U.S. about additional supplies, though it is companies that sign contracts rather than the EU.”
Read the full article here.
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