Russian Gas to Europe

• Russia:

  • 2nd largest producer of gas (USA = 1st)
  • Imports significant amount of gas (most likely to help meet its own needs)
• Recent years: Quantity of natural gas exported to W. Europe has increased by 40%
• 2018: Russia exported 243 bn m^3 of natural gas
• Delivery of gas through 4 pipelines + construction of new pipeline system called North Stream 2 (contributes greatly to Russia's gas export to Europe)
• Geopolitics:

  • 3/4 pipelines pass through Ukraine
  • Russia = recent military action in Ukraine including incursions into E. Ukraine and annexing Crimea in 2014
  • Russian perspective: Ukraine will make it difficult for the Russian gas industry to continue to prosper e.g by threatening to hike the price it charges for allowing the transfer of gas across its territory or by stopping flows altogether
• Russian anxiety about its pipelines across Ukraine as well as its hostility towards the country may have been a driving factor in increasing the possibility that Ukraine may join EU and become a member of NATO.
• North Stream 2 = important to Russia as it would make gas exports to the EU simpler and less reliant on the good will of ' transfer states ' e.g Ukraine
• Accounting for the strained history of political relations between Russia (then USSR) and W. Europe, EU = wise not to increase reliance on Russian gas.
• Heavy reliance on any imported energy carries potential risk of being involved in various forms of economic and political blackmail.

  UK stil obtains most of its gas from Qatar but since 2015, nearly x2 imports of Russian gas to 29.1 bn/m^3 per year to offset declining output from UK's North Sea gas fields