Energy security is of high importance to the EU, Russia and European transit states like Slovakia or Ukraine. Central and Eastern Europe has several options to diversify imports away from Gazprom: diversification of suppliers, increase in LNG imports, shift to a more short-term contracting (all undermining Gazprom’s dominant position), and extraction of ‘unconventional’ natural gas namely shale gas.
Drastic changes in production, transit and supply routes of natural gas to Europe open new possibilities and challenges for energy security. Recent developments include: new European gas market model; implementation of the EU 3rd Energy package; competition between already established gas transit routes and the new supply routes. Central and Eastern European countries could benefit from these new developments only in case of deeper cooperation between CEE gas transiters under conditions of new European gas regulation.