EU Gas Consumption Before Russia-Ukraine War and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Security issues have always been important for every country. It was primarily identified with the military. However, later, it was explained that it depended on the following conditions: security for whom, how much, from what, by what means, at what cost, and in what period. One of the main issues of security is energy security. Energy security is connected, for instance, 1973 oil crisis when Saudi Arabia, with other Arabian countries, for some political-economic reasons, cut oil supply to the U. S. and the countries that supported the U. S. This moment affected the economy and energy consumption of most of the developed states. After a while, Saudi Arabia decided to recover oil supplements. Energy is needed for the economy. It is used in various sectors, like, industry, transport, household, Etc. Oil and natural gas are still considered significant energy resources in the world. According to the proper official statistical data, in 2020, 31.2% and 24.7% of the world's energy consumption was oil and gas. From this point of clean global climate and protect environment views natural gas is predicted to be used by at least 2050. Many examples in history can be drawn from the 2006 and 2009 gas wars between Russia and Ukraine. After that, Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine and the EU. Russia tried to increase the gas supply to the EU with the recovering gas transit through Ukraine and the NordStream2 and TurkStream pipeline application. It aimed to show the EU its 'gas' power. Nevertheless, after starting of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian threats became much clearer and the partnership more unreliable than it was. Here is detailly given the information which EU member countries consume and import Russian gas before and after the war of Russia-Ukraine (future perspective) (February 24, 2022). The purpose of the present issue is to analyze how Russia tried to increase its gas share in EU consumption and import, which also means the soaring Russian political influence on the EU. As the EU plans to reduce Russian gas imports by 66% by 2025, Russian "gas" power as the political instrument will be kept until the mentioned year. Even though the U. S. and U. K. support Ukraine and are (indirectly) against Russia, the reality is not changed; not all EU member countries can remove or replace gas consumption with the other gas importer countries or energies, as there are fields, e. g. industries where gas is still unchangeable. Here are used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to investigate and compare the world/EU energy/gas consumption in 2020. The study analyzed the shares of existing/future Russian gas supplies in the EU and its member countries’ gas consumptions/imports via LNG and pipelines in the background of energy importance and economic-political experiences. Although the US and UK support Ukraine and are (indirectly) against Russia, the reality is not changed; not all EU member countries can remove or replace gas consumption with the other gas importer countries or energies. The research suggests the results before the war and future perspectives of EU member countries’ gas consumption and import. At the end of the presented research, there are given logical conclusions, which will help and provide the proper society, business, or any interested persons with the proper issues.