Gazprom's next gas battle

The Russian giant is ready to defend its market share in Europe and face off the threat of American LNG

The past twelve months have been something of a curate's egg for Gazprom—good in parts. The company has managed to halt its recent production decline with a small rebound in output to just under 420bn cubic metres, but has struggled in several business segments. Sales to former Soviet Union countries fell sharply as Ukraine made a determined effort to reduce imports from Russia to zero; domestic market share fell again; two liquefied natural gas projects (Baltic LNG and Sakhalin 2 expansion) were delayed again, this time until 2023-24; and negotiations with China over a second export pipeline have dragged, while the start of supplies under the first contract (via Power of Siberia) seem to be