NYTimes: Sapping Europe's Energy Security

The European Union’s energy security is under threat — one of its largest suppliers of natural gas has gone rogue. If Vladimir V. Putin’s efforts to destabilize Ukraine had culminated in an invasion, up to 15 percent of Western Europe’s total supply would have been immediately cut off.

Ukraine has the world’s largest gas-transit system. Even if the risk of a conflict there eventually dissolves, Mr. Putin’s Kremlin still presents the European Union with a major energy security problem. The European Union needs to develop emergency plans that focus on quick replacement of lost energy sources — and long-term strategies that free it of dependence on Russia.

In all, Gazprom provides 27 percent of Europe’s gas supply. Fifteen percent via Ukraine, and the rest through the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea and the Yamal pipeline through Belarus and Poland. That 15 percent is much more significant than it might appear because some European Union member states, such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, are largely isolated from the rest of the market and would have difficulty replacing any losses quickly.
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