How can Europe wean itself off Russian gas?

(The Guardian, 25 Feb 2022) Analysis: whether tapping other suppliers or switching energy sources, there is no quick and easy option to loosen Putin’s economic grip.

As Boris Johnson told parliament that Europe must wean itself off Russian gas – to loosen Vladimir Putin’s “grip on western politics” – the Nikolay Zubov tanker was making its way back from British waters to the port of Sabetta, in northern Siberia.

The 300m-long vessel had recently dropped off a consignment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Isle of Grain terminal, in the Thames Estuary, operated by the National Grid.

Steaming north under a Cypriot “flag of convenience”, it charted a course for Russia’s Arctic coast, near the vast $27bn (£20bn) Yamal gas facility, personally inaugurated by Putin in 2017.

Britain gets less than 5% of its gas from Russia, either flowing through subsea interconnector pipelines or arriving by boat at the Isle of Grain and two further LNG facilities at Milford Haven, South Wales.

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The Guardian, 25 Feb 2022: How can Europe wean itself off Russian gas?