Europe can only partially replace Russian gas – EURACTIV.com

Russia furnishes over 40% of the natural gas Europe imports and in the event it invades Ukraine again those supplies could be at risk, throwing into question European countries’s ability to keep the heat on in the dead of winter.

Europe, which imports around two-thirds of its natural gas, has alternatives to replace some of what it currently buys from Russia.

Moreover, experts judge it highly unlikely there would be a complete halt to Russian gas deliveries.

• The alternatives

“There are pipelines from Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan, but these countries don’t have additional production capacity,” said Thierry Bros, a specialist on the European gas market at Sciences Po university in Paris.

That means Europe will need to turn to liquefied natural gas (LNG), which can be delivered by huge sea tankers from suppliers anywhere in the world.