Natural gas is one of several products damaged by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Prices at the Dutch TTF hub, a European benchmark for natural gas transactions, more than tripled before returning between February 16 and March 7.
But Russia’s natural gas is flowing through Ukraine to the rest of the continent, despite being at the center of Europe’s biggest military conflict since World War II.
“If you are not familiar with European gas, you would think that there is a terrible attack and a terrible war going on and the gas is flowing, in general and through Ukraine as if nothing is happening, it seems strange,” said Laurent Rousseau, a force. IHS Market Analyst. “But the truth of the matter is that Russia, as we have seen recently, is taking a different approach to European gas.”
The European Union gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russian pipelines, and about a quarter of it flows through Ukraine. Germany gets about half of its natural gas from Russia.
“What’s happening is that the Russians are making a lot of money from it,” said George Zachman, a senior fellow at Brugel. “They are making millions of dollars a day from the gas they sell to Germans and Europeans. On the other hand, Europeans rely heavily on Russian gas to fill their stores.”
At the start of the conflict, Germany cut off its participation in the Nord Stream 2, a 760-mile-long gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea that connects Russia to Germany’s coast. The EU has announced plans to reduce its demand for Russian gas by two-thirds and free Europe from Russian fossil fuels by 2030.
And the United States, along with its partners, has imposed economic sanctions on Russian financial institutions and members of its elite.
So what role does natural gas play in the conflict with Ukraine and how are Europe and the United States affected? Watch the video to know more.
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