Gazprom—the LNG pivot?

Faced with growing domestic competition and a wave of seaborne gas heading for Europe, Gazprom needs to up its own LNG game

The title of a 7 August report from S&P Global Ratings, Can The US Shut Off Russia's Gas Supply To Europe?, was eye-catching, but a little over the top. It did, though, exemplify some of the problems facing Russia's state-controlled gas-export firm. S&P was reflecting the latest round of sanctions signed (reluctantly) on 2 August by US President Donald Trump. Among other measures, they introduced new sanctions on entities involved in Russian offshore oil projects and those participating in Russian oil or gas pipe-line construction. Gazprom has always insisted that the "Western sanctions have left [it] largely unaffected… and had little bearing on the company's ongoing activities". St