Demand for Russian gas is still huge in Eastern Europe. Europe gets a quarter of its gas from Russia and Gazprom is the sole provider authorized to export it out of Russia. Half of the supplies passes through Ukraine, so the conflict between Russia and Ukraine represents a tangible risk.
In 2014, Gazprom remained the sole provider of foreign gas to a number of countries including Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland and Latvia, for example.
Other countries are more circumspect, obscuring sources of their imports by listing them under opaque designations. Germany and Austria, for instance, each indicate all of their gas imports come from “Special Designation.” There is a gas pipeline connecting Russia directly to Germany