The EU imported around 40% of its natural gas, more than one-quarter of its oil and about half of its coal from Russia in 2019. Credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty An embargo would only work if the EU took part, economists say, because it would be difficult for Russia to quickly find new customers for the oil and gas it sends to Europe.Ĭoal wagons await export at the Russian port of Murmansk. Moreover, the impact of such actions is minimal because Russia can simply redirect that oil elsewhere on the global market. The United States and the United Kingdom were the first major countries to ban Russian oil, but neither depends heavily on these imports. Energy crunchįor now, the biggest question facing world leaders is how to sever their energy dependence on Russia. Here, Nature takes a look at some of the choices the world faces, as well as potential repercussions that could play out over the course of years or even decades. The war has prompted political leaders to rethink their energy plans, which could have profound impacts on a range of issues, from a burgeoning food crisis to global efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. “We have a war at our back door,” she says. The allure of cheap Russian energy proved too strong in the past, but this time might be different, says Veronika Grimm, an economist at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Erlangen, Germany. Similar concerns arose when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and in 2014 when it invaded and then annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. This isn’t the first time that Russian military aggression has prompted world leaders to fret about energy security. Sources: Bruegel/European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas/Eurostat/UK Government/Government of Ukraine But even as Russia’s bombs rain down on Ukraine, its oil and gas continues to flow to Western nations that have condemned the invasion (see ‘Where Europe gets its gas’). The United States, the European Union and others have imposed economic sanctions on Russia, and have announced plans to wean themselves off that country’s fossil fuels. ![]() According to the International Energy Agency, Russia is the world’s largest oil exporter to global markets, and its natural gas fuels the European economy. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has roiled the markets and geopolitics of energy, driving oil and gas prices to their highest levels in nearly a decade and forcing many countries to reconsider their energy supplies. Fertilizer plants across Europe have announced they will scale back production, and 31 countries around the world have agreed to release oil from their strategic reserves. Belgium is reconsidering its exit from nuclear power, while Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are all accelerating efforts to install wind power. On 22 February, Germany scuttled its approval of a newly built gas pipeline from Russia, and is now planning to import liquefied natural gas from countries such as Qatar and the United States.
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