Dec 03, 2019 20:00:00

History of gas pipelines connecting Europe and Russia

by

rustyruth1959

For the European Union (EU), Russia is the largest country in contact with the EU, and has been a subtle presence that has had a major impact on Eastern Europe and Central Asia since the Soviet Union. However, from the viewpoint of “natural gas”, Russia is an important presence that supports 40% of the supply, and it has been stable for over 50 years. Information on gas in Europe and Russia by international politician Andrew Moraftik based on ' The Bridge: Natural Gas in a Redivided Europe ' scheduled to be released in January 2020 by the writing of political scientist Thein Gustavson Is summarized.

Power of connection: why the Russia–Europe gas trade is strangely untouched by politics
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03694-y

After the Second World War, the demand for gas swelled as Europe recovered. At that time, gas pipelines in Europe were only in practical use in Italy and the Netherlands, and it was still difficult to supply gas from a distance.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, which had been developing gas fields and wanted to sell it somewhere, agreed with European interests to buy gas. Due to advances in equipment and technology, the construction of a pipeline between Siberia and Europe was launched in the 1960s, and in 1968 the first gas was sent to Austria. The pipeline started just after “

Spring in Prague ” when the Soviet Union, the former Communist Party leader, led the Warsaw Treaty Organization Army to traverse the Communist Party reform movement that took place in Czechoslovakia.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, gas consumption was further increased because it was cheaper than coal and oil and friendly to the environment. Norway and the United Kingdom also supplied gas from the North Sea gas field to Europe, but the Soviet Union supplied gas at a low cost against the backdrop of the rich reserves of the vast gas field, so that it would support half of the consumption at that time became. In particular, the dependence on Soviet gas was prominent in Germany and Italy.

by Alistair Hamilton

In 1981, the union “solidarity”, which was active in Poland, was made illegal by the government and a martial law was issued. With the Soviet Union supporting the Polish government, US President Reagan sanctioned the export of pipeline technology. This was because the United States had little energy trade with the Soviet Union. Despite this political turmoil, the Soviet Union continued to develop compressor and pipe technology essential for gas transport. It seems that technology that could not be developed was exported from Europe.

The gas pipeline linking Europe and the Soviet Union continues to operate stably even after the Ministry of Gas Industry changed to the state-owned company Gazprom after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There are two types of pipelines, mainly via Ukraine and Poland, and via the Baltic Sea called “ Nordstream 1 ” to Germany. Russia has a gas dispute with Ukraine, and relations with Poland are not good, and the pipeline `` Nordstream 2 '' which does not go through Ukraine and Poland is proceeding, but gas dependence on Russia Contrary to the EU policy that we want to get rid of, Germany and other countries are forced to steer.

Mr. Gustavson expressed the view that Russian gas will continue to be a major source of renewable energy in the EU, expressing the next decade as the “Golden Age of Gas”.