Russia - Energy map of Europe about to be redrawn.

Russia - Energy map of Europe about to be redrawn.(Australian).

EUROPE’S energy supply options will broaden later this decade as new pipelines feed natural gas from Russia and the Caspian Sea to consumers in big Mediterranean markets such as Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Russian state-owned producer Gazprom will bring its 2400km South Stream gas pipeline on line next year while the massive BP-led Shah Deniz 2 project in Azerbaijan will link into a new Southern Gas Corridor to Europe from 2018-19.

Europe imports about 60 per cent of its natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency, with almost all of it from Russia, Norway and Algeria.

As domestic supplies dwindle and the anti-fracking debate delays any shale gas development, Europe’s gas imports are expected to rise to 80 per cent by 2030 owing to a 25 per cent jump in demand. Russia alone expects to increase its gas exports to Europe by 70 per cent over the next 15 years.

Much of that gas now is piped either through Ukraine — the setting for disputes that have threatened Europe’s security of supply — and Slovakia, Poland, Belarus and the Czech Republic, or through the newer undersea Nord Stream pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany.

While Gazprom’s South Stream project will expand the pipeline options for bringing in gas from Russia, it is Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field that offers the promise of badly needed supply diversity and competition.Read the full story here.

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