Gas compressor station. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 22.Now there are no suppliers that could replace the supply of natural gas from Russia to European countries in the long term, writes the French newspaper Monde diplomatique.According to the publication, Norway, the Netherlands, Algeria and other suppliers to Europe are not able to meet the increased demand for blue fuel for a long time, and can only act as reserve sellers.
"The desire of Europeans to turn their backs on Moscow runs into the established order of things in the oil and gas sector, which will be difficult to change as quickly as the more or less imminent embargo will require", the newspaper writes.
It is emphasized that Europe cannot count on gas supplies from Libya due to the ongoing civil war in the country, while Egypt does not plan to become a supplier due to prudence in relations with Russia. «The remote geographical location of other producers, such as Nigeria or Angola, combined with varying degrees of obsolescence of their capacities, does not allow them to become a reliable replacement for Russia,» the article says. The authors of Monde diplomatique suggested that the United States plans to take advantage of this situation with the expectation of increasing the supply of its reduced natural gas to European countries.
In France, they announced a record income for Russia from gas supplies to Europe. Since April 1, Moscow began to accept payments for gas from unfriendly states in rubles in order to get away from settlements in dollars and euros. President Vladimir Putin clarified that the refusal to operate in the Russian currency would be considered as a default on the obligations under the contracts. Since April 27, Gazprom has suspended fuel exports to Bulgaria and Poland due to non-payment. At the same time, the company warned that it would reduce transit to other countries if Sofia and Warsaw began illegal fuel sampling. After the start of the Russian special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, the West increased sanctions pressure on Moscow. Many countries have announced the freezing of Russian assets, and calls to abandon energy sources have become louder. All this has already turned into problems for the US and Europe, provoking an increase in fuel and food prices. /d3f24cbfc3c26969af7ddd897fd8e125.jpg» />Yesterday, 09:30 InfographicEurope and Russian gas: growing dependence and consumption patterns