Gas Supplies to EU: Europe at a Crossroads

摘要

Over the Last decade, Russia, Norway and Algeria have been the European Union's (EU) major gas suppliers. During this period, EU gas imports grew from 253.7 billion cubic meters in 2002 to 317.7 billion m3 cubic meters in 2012. Norway was the main generator of that growth, seeing its share in total EU gas imports rise from 26 percent to 35 percent. New players such as Qatar and Nigeria (both - LNG suppliers) followed suit. Meanwhile, the share of Russia's gas supply to EU shrank from 48 percent to 36 percent. Algeria's share was also reduced from 22 percent to 13 percent, the "Reforming the European Gas Market" report says. The paper was presented in Moscow on Nov. 13 by Alexei Grivach, deputy director of the National Energy Security Fund (FNEB). However, according to FNEB experts, Norway is unlikely to sustain current growth levels due to the expected decline in gas production in the future.