Russian Gas Pipelines - Good Enough for 007

Did you know that the majority of domestic gas used to heat homes, boil water and bake bread in Europe is piped in from Russia?

A series of long pipelines connect Europe with natural gas fields in Western Siberia, and in a scene reminiscent of a giant snakes and ladders board, the pipelines wind their way across Russia, through former Eastern Bloc countries to refineries throughout the continent.

Indeed, fans of the James Bond movie series will remember Bond making use of one such pipeline to smuggle a rogue KGB agent across the Russian border in “The Living Daylights”.

And, while that movie may be set in the world of make-believe, very real problems are evident after a number of disagreements in recent years - typically referred to as the Russian-Ukraine gas disputes - which have led to the shut down of the pipelines for a number of days.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s there have been a series of disagreements between Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian gas supplier, and Naftohaz Ukrainy the country’s national oil and gas company. The problems typically relate to payments, debts and costs.

Current figures show that even large, established European Union members rely on foreign gas, with 42 per cent of Germany’s domestic supply coming from Russia. Italy and France are similarly dependent at 28 and 24 per cent respectively.

Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Serbia are particularly susceptible to pipeline problems, with a huge percentage of their gas usage linked to Russian gas fields.

In recent years, when trouble has flared all of these countries have suffered. For example Slovakia, due to its complete reliance on Russian gas, was forced to declare a state of emergency when the pipeline was shut down in 2009.

Britain is largely free of these concerns due to the rich seam of natural resources in the North Sea. However, the situation remains a worldwide concern.

Nevertheless, there is renewed hope of a more dependable supply in future.

It is believed that the first step will be the construction of the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany.

This project has been mooted since 1997 but, following a number of contracts being awarded at the end of 2008, it appears that the first gas will be delivered in 2011.