EXPLAINER: What happens to Europe's energy if Russia acts?
Fears are rising about what would happen to Europe’s energy supply if Russia were to invade Ukraine and then shut off its natural gas in retaliation for U.S. and European sanctions
February 6, 2022, 3:46 PM
7 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFILE - A worker at a Ukrainian gas station Volovets in western Ukraine Wednesday, in Oct. 7, 2015. Fears are rising about what would happen to Europe's energy supply if Russia were to invade Ukraine and then shut off its natural gas in retaliation for U.S. and European sanctions. The pipeline operators have told the European Union's executive commission that if there's a cold winter, the continent's gas companies will need to import more than they have in the past. (AP Photo/Pavlo Palamarchuk, File)
FRANKFURT, Germany -- Fears are rising about what would happen to Europe’s energy supply if Russia were to invade Ukraine and then shut off natural gas exports in retaliation for U.S. and European sanctions.
The tensions show the risk of Europe’s reliance on Russia for energy, which supplies about a third of the continent's natural gas. And Europe's stockpile is already low. While the U.S. has pledged to help by boosting exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, there’s only so much it can produce at once.
It leaves Europe in a potential crisis, with its gas already sapped by a cold winter last year, a summer with little renewable energy generation and Russia delivering less than usual. Prices have skyrocketed, squeezing households and businesses.
Here's what to know about Europe's energy supply if tensions boil over into war and Russia is hit with sanctions:
WILL RUSSIA CUT OFF GAS SUPPLIES TO EUROPE?
No one knows for sure, but a complete shutoff is seen as unlikely, because it would be mutually destructive.
Russian officials have not signaled they would consider cutting supplies in the case of new sanctions. Moscow relies on energy exports, and though it just signed a gas deal with China, Europe is a key source of revenue.
Europe is likewise dependent on Russia, so any Western sanctions would likely avoid directly targeting Russian energy supplies.
More likely, experts say, would be Russia withholding gas sent through pipelines crossing Ukraine. Russia pumped 175 billion cubic meters of gas into Europe last year, nearly a quarter of it through those pipelines, according to S&P Global Platts. That would leave pipelines under the Baltic Sea and through Poland still operating.
“I think in the event of even a less severe Russian attack against Ukraine, the Russians are almost certain to cut off gas transiting Ukraine on the way to Germany,” said former U.S. diplomat Dan Fried, who as State Department coordinator for sanctions policy helped craft 2014 measures against Russia when it invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
Russia could then offer to make up the lost gas if Germany approves the contentious new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, whose operators could face potential U.S. sanctions even though a recent vote to that effect failed.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press" that the Biden administration has coordinated with its allies and that “if Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward."
Interrupting gas supplies beyond the Ukrainian pipelines is less likely: “If they push it too far, they're going to make a breach with Europe irreparable, and they have to sell the oil and gas someplace,” Fried said.
WHAT CAN THE U.S. DO?
It's a major gas producer and already is sending record levels of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, by ship worldwide. It could only help Europe a little.
“We’re talking about small increases to the size of U.S. exports, whereas the hole that Europe would need to fill if Russia backed away or if Europe cut Russia off would be much larger than that,” said Ross Wyeno, lead analyst for Americas LNG at S&P.
