More reasons why the West needs to decrease its dependence on Gazprom

Another set back in the dispute of Russian gas as Ukraine is accused once again of blocking gas supplies to the rest of Eastern Europe.

This article from the international version of Der Spiegel looks at the consequences of Europe not weaning itself off Russian gas pointing out that

It was been three years since Russia and Ukraine had it out on the backs of European consumers when, at the very start of 2006, Western Europe's gas supply was interrupted for three full days.

adding that

Specifically, politicians called for the construction of terminals in Germany to process shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East and Africa, expansion of existing storage capacities and building new pipelines.
That was less than three years ago, but virtually nothing has changed since then.

The article though paints a worrying picture of the Russian gas giant Gazprom which

although reported a record profit of €25 billion ($34 billion) in 2008, now owes twice that amount.

Furthermore

Although it sits on 17 percent of the world's known natural gas reserves, the energy giant has hardly managed to increase production volume within the last decade, even though domestic demand grew by 25 percent and Gazprom now sells its natural gas in 32 countries. Old fields are becoming depleted, but a lack of funding for investment means that new fields are not being developed quickly enough. Experts estimate that the Siberian Yamal peninsula, which has one of the world's largest gas reserves, alone requires €145 billion ($198 billion).