Gas represents a quarter of the EU’s energy consumption. It is especially used for heating or generating electricity. Although some EU member states produce gas themselves, such as the Netherlands or Romania, this production is too small to meet the needs of all households and businesses on the old continent. So the EU should seek this energy elsewhere, and above all in Russia. By 2020, more than 43 percent of the gas imported into the European Union came from these large neighbors.

Not all countries are equally dependent on Russian gas. In many states, almost all, or at least, natural gas imports come from Russia. This is the case even in Latvia (100%), Czech Republic (100%), Finland (97.6%), Hungary (95%) and Estonia (93%). However, not all these countries have the same energy mix. While Latvia and Estonia have similar rates for Russian gas supplies, the latter use far less gas compared to other European countries: this energy represents 8% of Estonia’s energy mix in 2020, up from 20% in Latvia the same year.

More than half of a series of states import from Russia, such as Bulgaria (75%) and Germany (66%). The second is also the first importer in the European Union. By 2020, it imported more than 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas, representing Third In the same year, the European Union imported from Russia. Large gas requirements for households and industries (associated with 40% of the energy mix) are characteristic of Italy and dependent on Russia, which accounts for about half of gas imports.

As part of that, France has a more diverse supply than its German neighbor. It will supply mainly from Norway by 2020 (36%). Russia is second only to Algeria (8%), representing 17% of France’s natural gas imports.

Finally, the 6 EU member states did not import natural gas directly from Russia by 2020. These are Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Austria, Denmark and Ireland. However, these countries may suffer due to the closure of taps in Eastern Europe, as prices for all will rise due to energy shortages.

Russia uses pipelines to transport its natural gas to European countries. For example, one gas pipeline passes through Belarus and the other through Ukraine. The most controversial of these, Nord Stream 2, connects Russia with Germany under the Baltic Sea. It is not in service, and its certification process on the German side has been suspended due to the crisis between Russia and other parts of Europe.

After Russia (44% of European imports), Norway (20%) and Algeria (12%) are the two largest exporters of natural gas to the EU by 2020. It is followed by the United Kingdom (6%), the United States (5%) and Qatar (5%).