In spite of being one of the largest producers of crude oil, Russia was never a safe option to import crude oil for western countries. Political nature of Russia has refrained western countries from importing. But the time has changed. Gone are the days of cold war when state owned oil sector was used as a weapon against capitalist western world. Of late the situation has changed drastically and Russian Federation contributes more than sixty percent of energy requirement of European Union. The recent turmoil of Arab world has bound western world to think of Russia as a safer bet.
Revolution of Libya has put many European countries in precarious situation. Country like Italy and Ireland are heavily dependent on Libyan oil. Italy singlehandedly import twenty eight percent of Libyan production. The twelfth largest producer of crude oil, Libya singlehandedly contributes two percent of world wide production. Not only Libya, but also Egypt and Tunisia, play a very pivotal role in the production of crude oil. The growing unrest of these Arab countries has made oil market more unstable than ever before.
Economical superpower like England, France was never even close to the self sufficiency in terms of crude oil production. They mainly supply their huge demand from Arab countries. But, the recent developments of Arab world have put them in an awkward situation. They are in search of a more reliable option. This quest for safer bet has corroborated to the growing importance of Russia as a safer and risk free option.
Russia has also responded to this crisis positively as honorable Prime Minister Vladimir Putin himself has taken measures to end the monopoly of Gazprom in energy sector. This positive attitude of Kremlin has supplied some fresh oxygen to Western world, as they consider Gazprom as a fragment of cold war.
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