Natural gas reserves and shortages - is Gazprom a reliable supplier for Europe?

The natural gas portion of the energy mix of the EU member states increased up to a quarter in recent years. In Germany alone, 23.8% of primary energy consumption consisted of natural gas in 2005. A third of German natural gas imports comes from the Russian Confederation, which has greatest natural gas reserves in the world. Europe's import dependence on natural gas will probably increase from a present 49% to 70% in 20 or 30 years. Josephine Bollinger-Kanne of Research & Consulting Russia gives an overview of natural gas production in Russian and especially of the practices and policies of the Russian natural gas giant, Gazprom.