Posted Jul 20, 2022, 6:15 AMUpdated on Jul 20, 2022 at 9:13 am
Italian Mario Draghi in Algeria on Monday to secure gas supplies; a trip, on the same day, by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to Azerbaijan to double gas imports in a few years; the conclusion of a energy partnership between France and the United Arab Emirates … The Europeans are firing on all cylinders to prepare for the worst: the total disruption of Russian gas supplies in the more or less short term.
Everyone can understand the degree of urgency. Especially after reading the three working papers released Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the economic impact of such a halt in Russian gas deliveries to European Union (EU) countries. The Fund observes that the EU’s annual gas consumption is around 400 billion cubic meters. Of this total, approximately $285 billion are imports via pipelines. And 145 billion comes from Russia. That is to say the potentially destructive impact of a total cut.