By Dr. Ajay Kumar (PhD)
(Chairman & Managing Director, Fox Petroleum Group of Companies)
Copyright: @ 2022 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 17 April 2022
Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)
Outrageous pictures from the Ukrainian town of Bucha and accusations of war crimes levelled at Russia are building pressure for more sanctions against Moscow especially no on its oil & gas business. NATO losing knot on Russian Gas – a threat to EU Economy; whereas Berlin disagrees. Berlin has publicly warned of mass unemployment and poverty in Europe's biggest economy if its industries and households must forgo Russian gas. The German government has set out plans to end its need for Russian oil imports by the end of this year and to stop Russian gas imports by 2024.
Before going into deep, let’s be familiar with how much oil and gas EU buy from Russia. Russia supplies a momentous volume of fossil fuels to other European countries. In 2021 it was the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union, and 40% of gas consumed in the EU came from Russia. In 2017, energy products accounted for around 60% of the EU's total imports from Russia. The data shows from 2017 to 2021 European Union already cut down imports by 20%. Let me simplify it - A key potential target of United States is Russian oil and natural gas because $850 million (€775 million) approx that European importers pay for those supplies every day. But it's not so easy, given Europe's dependence on Russian energy.... Read more