No one benefits more from the war between Russia and Ukraine than Norway: every cut in Russian supplies to EU countries and every jump in gas prices corresponds to an increase in revenue for what is Western Europe’s largest hydrocarbon producer. At the beginning of 2020 (before the pandemic) Equinor was grossing 250 million per month from methane sales on the continent; one year later, due to the pandemic, the Norwegian energy giant’s monthly revenue had dropped to 210 million. In 2022, receipts rose to 2 billion per month, almost ten times as much: if in 2020 Norway was earning 2 billion per year from gas sold to the EU, in the first six months of 2022, receipts amounted to 10 billion, plus another 4 billion for supplies to countries outside the EU. Norway is a NATO country, thus aligned against Moscow, but at the same time it is not part of the EU and therefore does not have to submit to the constraints imposed by Brussels. The 20 billion a year cascade of gold could increase further thanks to the ‘Baltic Pipe‘, the new pipeline that opened a connection for Norwegian gas to Eastern Europe with the aim of providing a viable alternative to Russian energy for the Central and Eastern European countries closest to Moscow. For Poland, for example, the opening of the pipeline means no longer depending on Russian gas. Read more on ATN