The European Union and Norway agreed on Thursday to cooperate to bring more gas from western Europe’s biggest producer to the EU’s 27 countries, nearly half of which are
Nearly half of these countries are currently grappling with cutbacks in Russian gas supplies. Brussels said 12 EU member states are facing gas cuts after Russia reduced the flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline last week, citing technical issues.
Moscow has previously stopped deliveries to Poland, the Netherlands and other countries while refusing to comply with a new payment schedule, and Norway expects gas sales to rise 8% this year to 122 billion cubic meters by increasing gas production in response to the shortage in Europe. This would equate to an additional 100 TWh of supply, while all of the additional production is likely to go to the EU. The EU imports roughly a fifth of its gas from Norway.