CIS and Europe

Natural gas is one of the most important energy resources in the global economy, whose consumption, on par with oil, will grow in the coming decades. The largest customers of this fuel include industries and power generation. According to Energy Information Administration of US Government forecast, worldwide consumption of the blue fuel by 2030 will grow by 2.4% a year on the average and the industries will show nearly 2.9% growth (2.8% in power engineering). At the same time, gas consumption in the worldwide energy balance will grow to 26% by 2030. Natural gas is more environmentally friendly compared to the other fuels due to lower emission of hazardous substances in combustion.

Russia and such Central Asian countries as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have a special role to play in worldwide energy carrier market. In particular, those countries have up to a third of worldwide natural gas reserves. The today's priority for the said nations is expansion of production and transportation infrastructure capable of providing the growing consumption.

European region is the key consumer of gas supplied from Russia and Central Asia. Europe, along with growth in consumption, shows decline in own production of gas, caused, first and foremost, by exhaustion of reserves. Based on the International Energy Agency forecast, Europe will import 75% of gas by 2015 (for comparison: Europe imports' accounted for as low as 50% in 2005). JSC Gazprom provides nearly a third of gas supply to Western Europe. According to Gazprom, the key buyers of Russian gas include Germany, Italy, Turkey, and France. Among the Central European countries, Hungary, followed by Slovakia, Czechia and Poland, is the largest gas purchaser of JSC Gazprom.

In the recent decade, JSC Gazprom has been actively participating in sales of gas to ultimate customers. To this end, Gazprom founded a number of joint ventures with large suppliers of gas in Europe and acquired block of shares in several European gas companies.

Ukraine is an important component of the energy supply system to Europe. Ukraine's gas transportation network transports nearly 90% of JSC Gazprom's gas supply to European countries. At the same time, Ukraine is the largest consumer of blue fuel in Europe. On a yearly basis, Ukraine uses nearly 78 bln. m³ natural gas, of which domestically produced gas accounts for as low as approximately 20 bln. m³. Gas imports in Ukraine are provided by ROSUKRENERGO AG.

Additional information

Gas prices in Europe (1996-2007)