Geopolitics and Europe’s Natural Gas Supply Aspects and Consequences from a Gas and Electricity Markets Perspective

Abstract

The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to extreme disruptions on the international energy markets. Europe, the world’s largest importing region for oil, natural gas and hard coal, was particularly affected. The loss of major supply routes for Russian natural gas created abottleneck situation and restricted short-term diversification potential. Three years after the supply shocks of 2022, although the European Union was able to overcome the situation together, the quest to diversify European natural gas supplies remains in many cases a balancing act between existing and new dependencies, still distant from the objective of crisis-resilient energy sovereignty.