The falling dependency on Russian gas: CASE publishes 400th Network Study and Analysis

“Precisely how the spot market for natural gas will develop is uncertain, but the pipeline issues and the Russian threat to EU energy security will become as anachronistic as 1970s fears of OPEC world domination,” says Richard Pomfret in Energy Security in the EU and Beyond (CASE Network Studies and Analyses No. 400).  Reflecting past energy market trends, just as the emphasis on oil security has taken a back seat, he anticipates a decreasing threat of gas dependency on Russia as nations within the EU begin to embrace new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technologies.  “Energy insecurity have been fleeting and the fears have been [and will again be] assuaged by market forces or technical change”

Energy Security in the EU and Beyond by Richard Pomfret marks the 400th publication of the CASE Network Studies and Analyses Series.  The paper was presented at the 3rd Session of the “Return of History: From Consensus to Crisis” CASE 2009 International Conference. 

Richard Pomfret has been Professor of Economics at Adelaide University since 1992.  He was seconded to the United Nations for a year acting as adviser on macroeconomic policy to the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union as well as been a consultant to the EU, World Bank, UNDP, OECD and Asian Development Bank.