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Europe relies on Russian gas fields, Belarussian pipelines
AFP
PARIS
Petroleumworld.com 12 28 06The European Union relies on Russia for about a quarter of its gas supplies and is dependent on pipelines that pass though Belarus for a significant part of these imports.
The 25-member EU block is vulnerable to any disruption to export routes that link Russian gas fields in the east to European consumers in the west, as demonstrated by a dispute between Russia and Ukraine last year.
In the latest regional standoff about gas prices, Russian gas giant Gazprom has threatened to cut supplies to Belarus on January 1, while Belarus has suggested it will disrupt exports through its territory unless its domestic gas needs are met.
About 20 percent of Russian gas exports to Europe pass through Belarus, with the remaining 80 percent transiting Ukraine.
Russia supplies 24 percent of all EU gas, which is the equivalent of about 40 percent of EU imports, according to data published in December by European gas federation Eurogas for 2005.
In January last year, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine led to a sharp fall in gas deliveries to Europe at a time of peak demand during cold winter months.
Commenting on the Russia-Belarus dispute, an expert who asked not to be named told AFP it was possible that disruption could return to Europe this January, but he suggested that Russian gas destined for Europe could be re-directed from pipelines in Belarus to Ukraine.
In the Russia-Ukraine dispute last year, Gazprom successfully diverted some exports to routes in Belarus, he said.
Consumers in the 25-member European Union relied on natural gas for 23.7 percent of their energy needs in 2004, according to Eurogas, with consumption estimated at 1,182.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
Oil represented 44.2 percent and electricity 19.6 percent.
Gas consumed in Europe comes from the following sources, according to the data from Eurogas for 2005:
- The European Union (mainly Britain and the Netherlands): 41 percent
- Russia: 24 percent
- Norway: 15 percent
- Algeria: 11 percent
- Others (Libya, Nigeria, Egypt, Qatar etc): 9 percent
AFP 27 1831 GMT 12 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP All Rights Reserved.
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