Outlook 2024: Europe’s pivot from Russian gas

Energy crisis leads to supply diversification

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered an era of energy insecurity that has been felt acutely in the EU and rippled across the globe. Long the dominant supplier of natural gas to the 27 countries in the EU, Russia’s gas is closer and cheaper than many other options for Europe, despite some geopolitical trade-offs. While some called for diversification from Russian gas long before the invasion, geopolitical turmoil accelerated that movement and sparked deep uncertainty around the continent’s gas supply amid a transition to new sources that could see Russia’s role forever altered. Over decades, Russia built sprawling infrastructure to transport its gas from often-remote gas fields to populatio