There is no alternative to the Russian gas pipeline for Europe, says company vice president

The launch of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline could ease Europe’s energy crisis, Gazprom Vice Chairman Oleg Aksyutin told a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum (SPIGF 2022) on Thursday.

“The launch of Nord Stream 2 could solve the problem of balancing the gas market in Europe, but we see that this obvious solution is meeting resistance from European politiciansAksyutin pointed out.

“There is simply no suitable alternative to supplying Russian gas pipeline to Europe. No country is capable of providing resources comparable to the resources and fields of Siberia and the Yamal Peninsula. No one can increase supply using pipeline systems on the terms offered by Gazprom,” he stated.

Aksyutin said Brussels’ stance on Russian gas and the steps the EU is taking to reduce its dependence condemn the European economy to inefficiency and a loss of competitiveness.

He also criticized the bloc’s aspirations to replace the Russian gas pipeline with liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from across the ocean, pointing out that LNG “does not appear on the market by magicand that the supply of LNG on the world market is unlikely to increase significantly over the next two years.

READ MORE: Russian gas in demand outside the EU – Kremlin

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was completed last year but never entered service due to Berlin’s reluctance to grant it certification, has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. This could greatly help the bloc, experts say, especially now when another Russian pipeline, Nord Stream 1, has been shut down indefinitely due to technical issues. The only major routes remaining for Russian gas to reach Europe are the only remaining operational transit line through Ukraine and the Turkstream gas pipeline through Turkey.

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