Rahm Emanual, Obama’s chief of staff, says one should never let a serious crisis go to waste. So now that the Russians are once again blocking the supply of gas to Ukraine – and, by extension, to Europe –Europe should act to protect itself.
Russia remains the largest exporter of gas to the EU, with total annual exports of 130 bcm today. But since the early 1980s import growth from other countries has outpaced that from Russia. 80 percent of the growth in European gas imports now comes from Norway, Algeria, Nigeria and the Middle East. The gas markets of the EU’s eastern members are, however, highly dependent on Russia. Six of these states import more than 80 percent of their gas supply from Russia.
As Pierre Noel, a Cambridge energy expert, argues: “these national differences would not matter too much if there were a single European gas market.
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