Home to some of the largest industries in the world, Europe needs more energy than it can — or has been willing to — produce.
That predicament has made Europe especially dependent on Russia for oil and natural gas, which, geopolitically, has proven to be a disaster.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seven weeks ago, Europe’s energy purchases from Russia have declined, slightly, to about $850 million a day — again, each day.
That revenue stream is funding President Vladimir Putin’s war machine, which, we now know, is insatiable.
For the last 20 years Putin’s forces have slaughtered, raped, pillaged and poisoned cities in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Afghanistan and Crimea with little to no consequence.
Europe’s willingness to turn a blind eye to his ruthlessness is because their economies — especially those of Germany, Italy, Austria and Hungary — rely so heavily on Russian oil and gas to heat their homes and fuel their factories.
We are financing Russia’s war by purchasing gas and oil.Sanna Marin, Finland prime minister
If a man can so easily order death and destruction, they reason, for the sake of their economies they best remain quiet rather than risk his wrath.
TWO THINGS have contributed to Europe’s increased dependence on Russian fuel over the past 20 years.
First, natural gas production has fallen in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands. Second, at the beginning of the 21st Century some Western leaders viewed Putin’s relaxation of state ownership of industries as a step toward democratization and the expectation that he could be a reliable partner.
Sadly, those hopes were misplaced.
National gas production today in the UK is about one-third that of 2003. The UK is ranked 21st in the world for natural gas production. The Netherlands is 19th and is the second-leading producer for Europe, after Norway, which provides about 25% of the European Union’s natural gas.
The Netherlands began phasing out production in 2014 from its Groningen gas fields — the largest in the world — due to the destabilization and frequent earthquakes caused by its extraction.
For Germany, the largest European importer of Russian fuel, the decision to phase out nuclear energy and coal production in favor of natural gas, has put it in a more precarious position than ever.
The government decided to phase out nuclear power following Japan’s Fukushima reactor meltdown in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the coastal plant. This year, it is scheduled to decommission its last three reactors.
As for coal, Germany is also on track to phase it out in the next several years to meet clean energy goals.
In retaliation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union coalition has agreed to reduce its dependency on Russian energy by two-thirds by the end of this year and completely by 2030.
