Tehran, IRNA - Following the conflict in Ukraine, certain Western states have banned energy imports from Russia and sought to find new exporters, while Moscow was supplying around 45% and 25% of gas and oil imports to the European Union. 

A report by European Commission shows that the European Union's gas imports from Russia stood at nearly 40 percent in previous years, which increased to 45 percent in 2021. Other main gas exporters are Norway, Algeria, the US and Qatar with 23%, 12%, 6% and 5% respectively. 
Now, finding alternatives for Russian energy has turned into one of main concerns of the green continent. So, Deutsche Welle has asked about countries able to replace Russia in this respect.
Norway, the Netherlands 
Norway is one of the biggest producers of gas in the world, which provides Germany with a third of its gas requirements; however, an increase of gas import from Norway seems to be impossible in the current situation, because the European country announced in January that they are exporting gas at their highest capacity.
The Netherlands, which supplies 10 percent of Germany's gas import, announced that it is not capable of increasing export level.
Qatar
Qatar is one of the biggest liquefied gas exporters along with Russia and Iran; however, the Arab country is utilizing its highest capacity in gas production. Qatari energy minister said only two days prior to Russia-Ukraine conflict that his country needs more investments in infrastructure and long-term contracts with Europeans.
Algeria
Algeria is the 10th top gas exporter, which mainly exported its liquefied natural gas to European markets in 2021. Algerian officials have shown readiness to increase gas exports to Europe but they also mentioned that there is no extra gas reserves to increase production and export.
Nigeria
The African country is one of the states with the most gas reserves in the world and its resources are much higher than their domestic needs. Construction of a 4000-kilometer pipeline from West Africa to Europe can help the green continent to decrease dependence to Russian energy in medium-term. But political tensions have hampered establishment of the pipeline so far.
Azerbaijan Republic
One of energy officials of Azerbaijan Republic has recently said that the country is going to add gas exports 11 percent more. But the problem is that Azerbaijan is bound by long-term contracts as well as domestic consumption of gas. 
Costs for Europe
The European Union consumed 399 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2020. In last January, European gas imports hit a record high, reaching at least 8.1 million tons LNG. 
Despite the fact that European and American officials have labored hard to find substitute for Russian energy, they have been unable in this respect so far; so, some experts believe that the green continent faces hard path ahead and to this end they have to suffer from many challenges.

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