How Russia can save the UK from the energy crisis

Alexey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the business newspaper Vzglyad on Russia's ability to assist in increasing gas supply in the UK.

The Russian side is ready to help Great Britain overcome the gas crisis. This statement was made by the Russian Ambassador to London Andrei Kelin. Moscow will come to the rescue and will do everything possible "to alleviate the conditions that have now created a real crisis," he said. According to him, the share of Russian Gazprom in Britain is about 3%.

Russia has two resources - LNG and pipeline gas. “The UK is one of the main sales markets for the Yamal LNG project. However, the Russian state has little influence on these supplies, since traders themselves decide where to supply the purchased LNG. This is an uncontrollable situation,” Aleksey Belogoryev says. Many traders bring LNG to Asia because gas prices there are even higher, leaving Europe with its gas problems face to face. And for a trader it doesn't matter what kind of LNG they carry: Russian or Qatari.

“There are also pipeline gas flows from North-Western Europe to Great Britain, where Gazprom supplies its gas via Nord Stream and plans to start deliveries via Nord Stream 2. Perhaps we are talking about just such support,” the expert argues.

“Additional volumes of gas via Nord Stream 2 will be available in November. I am not sure that gas from this particular pipe will reach the UK due to the complex logistics. But if Russia increases the volume of supplies to France, the Benelux countries and Germany, then additional volumes of Norwegian gas may be freed up. And gas from Norway can get to the UK,” Belogoryev says.