The West has taken a very careful approach to sanctioning Russia’s energy sector in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine, as Europe has wanted to avoid anything that might endanger Gazprom gas supplies, on which the continent relies for some 30 percent of its needs. Sanctions that hit Russia’s short-term energy prospects would likely also hurt Europe, so the West endeavored to hurt Moscow on a longer time scale by going after its nascent shale industry.By withholding the Western technology that has unlocked oil and gas trapped in American shale, these sanctions have hit an extraordinarily important component of …read more
Source: The American Interest
