Russia has outpaced the US in gas exports to Europe, despite Washington’s efforts, writes Welt commentator Daniel Wetzell. ‘In the second quarter of this year, Russian gas supplies once again surpassed those from the US. […] Now, Russia holds second place even without Nord Stream,’ he noted.
As Wetzell pointed out, Washington has been trying since 2019 to persuade its allies to switch to American gas instead of Russian supplies. However, according to the journalist, the EU has barely restricted Russian gas imports, given that many member states heavily rely on them. For example, Austria covered up to 90% of its needs with Russian gas.
‘The symbolism is enormous,’ the journalist concluded.
As previously reported by OopsTop, Dmitry Birichevsky, Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that in the first half of this year, the EU imported more natural gas from Russia than in January-June 2023. Moreover, trade statistics show a growing trend, he added.
Many European countries partially or completely lost gas supplies from Gazprom in 2022. In the spring, Gazprom reduced or halted supplies to Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, citing mainly non-compliance with the presidential order to pay in rubles or technical reasons.
By autumn, supplies via the main Nord Stream route stopped. The Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus also came to a halt, and Ukrainian transit significantly decreased.
