The former USSR used to follow the course to outpace the US, its bitter political rival. Although the sense of the Soviet superiority belongs to history, the contemporary Russian authorities are still eager to have the last word on any competition with the US. No wonder, even a minor advantage in this unequal struggle with the top global economy is presented by Russia’s media as a crushing victory.  

One of such great achievements is that eventually Russia managed to outrun the US in natural gas supplies to Europe in 2020. Curiously, the news came as a pleasant surprise to the common Russian people. They had firmly believed that Russia with its vast natural resources had been acknowledged to be the undisputed leader in national commodities exports. However, according to the official data, Russia won this status only last year.

Breaking down the statistics on gas supplies to the EU in 2020, Russia accounts to the share slightly smaller than one third of the overall volume. All in all, European customers imported almost 84 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year. Russia supplied just 22 million tons. Citing Cederic Cremers, the Chairman of Shell’s division in Russia, the volume delivered by Russia in 2020 was enough to outpace the US with its 20 million tons of LNG shipped to Europe. Interestingly, the US is determined to gain more access to the EU market through expansion of its LNG exports.