Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom for some time enjoyed the benefits of having a reliable market to its west. For years, Europe has depended heavily on overland imports from Gazprom, and Moscow has used that dependence as geopolitical and economic leverage, forcing its European customers to sign long-term take-or-pay contracts tied to the price of oil, and threatening (and in some occasions following through on such threats) to cut off supplies when its contract demands weren’t met.What a difference a couple of years can make. The global gas market now seems as flooded as the oversupplied oil market, and …read more
Source: The American Interest