Russia’s stake in the EU’s gas market will in the medium-term perspective increase to 35 percent, Oettinger told newspaper Kommersant. That is a ten-percent increase compared with the situation in 2009. Russia has for decades been the biggest exporter of gas to Europe. In the years 2008 and 2009, the country’s exports dropped significantly following the economic crisis and the gas transit conflict with Ukraine. Norway and Algeria are to the two other main gas exporters to the union. The ongoing construction of the Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea will help Gazprom increase its deliveries to the EU countries.
