RT reported that members of the Dutch Parliament sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this country to express concern about the increasing dependence of the European Union ( EU ) on Russian gas.
In the letter, the parliamentarians said that Russian pipeline natural gas is cheaper than liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is transported to the EU by the US and other countries, adding that this hinders progress. towards steady investments in more sustainable options and infrastructure alternatives to Russian gas.
Before the Ukraine conflict escalated, Russia's annual gas supply to the EU amounted to about 155 billion cubic meters, mainly through gas pipelines.
Russian oil corporation Gazprom - once the EU's main gas supplier - has sharply reduced gas exports to the European Union in 2022, following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline .
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea and transports natural gas from Russia to the EU, along with the newly built Nord Stream 2, ruptured due to an underwater explosion in September 2022, rendering them inoperable.
Ukraine-related Russian sanctions imposed by the EU have so far not targeted pipeline gas supplies, but many EU members, including Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark Circuit, has voluntarily stopped imports.
However, several EU countries, including Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Italy, are still importing gas through Russian pipelines.
Moscow has redirected most of its gas exports east, sharply boosting sales to China. Beijing increases Russian gas imports via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline to 22.7 billion cubic meters in 2023, compared with 15.4 billion cubic meters in 2022.
The remaining amount of Russian gas reaching Europe via Ukraine and Türkiye is currently about 15 billion cubic meters per year.
A five-year gas transit agreement between Gazprom and a Ukrainian operator will expire at the end of 2024. The EU is planning to completely eliminate energy imports from Russia by 2027.
Last week, Reuters reported, citing data from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, that Russia's pipeline gas exports to EU countries jumped 24% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023.
In early July, Reuters said that Russian gas exports to the EU in June also increased by nearly 23% over the same period last year.
Russia's total natural gas and associated gas production increased by more than 8% to about 346 billion cubic meters in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2023, Russia's state statistics agency Rosstat said in an annual report. month.
According to official data, gas output will reach 638 billion cubic meters in 2023 and 676 billion cubic meters in 2022, lower than the pre-conflict production between Russia and Ukraine in 2021 of 763 billion cubic meters.
Rosstat also reported a nearly 5% increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) output in the first half of 2024 at four operating export projects, Yamal LNG, Sakhalin 2, Prigorodnoye LNG and Vysotsk LNG, to a total 17.3 million tons.
With LNG production increasing, Russia has also begun building its own LNG tanker fleet to transport gas to international customers.
