Russia’s tight grip on energy fuels fears in West

The main issue is natural gas. Russia is an oil giant, second only to the Saudis in exports. Europe depends on it for a quarter of the crude it consumes. But oil supplies can be diversified because shipping is easy, while the most efficient way of distributing gas is through pipelines. With Russia as the world’s largest gas exporter, European dependency has grown to the point that the EU now counts on Moscow for nearly half of its gas needs.
Moscow’s control of pipelines that deliver not only gas from Russia but from much of central Asia is stoking Western unease.

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