OREANDA-NEWS  Europe's desire to minimize purchases of natural gas from Russia has led to the formation of a new dependence on its market. The Norwegian Equinor took Gazprom's place, Bloomberg writes.

Previously, the Russian pipeline monopolist was responsible for 35 percent of all gas consumed by Europe, and now its Scandinavian successor accounts for 30 percent. Equinor's share has increased in the last two years.

Norway has overtaken Russia in the last two years and has become the main supplier to Europe, which, as the newspaper notes, carries new risks. On the one hand, Oslo is seen from a political point of view as a much more reliable partner than Moscow, but at the same time supply disruptions look more dangerous.

Due to high production volumes, Gazprom could compensate for accidents and scheduled repairs, and problems in Norway are pushing prices up on the continent. In addition, Norwegian gas is currently more expensive than Russian gas, which is due to its uncontested position until the new gas liquefaction projects in the United States and Qatar become fully operational.