A NEW APPROACH TO THE ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF GAS SUPPLY DIVERSIFICATION

The purpose of the paper is to study the current state and trends in the development of the basic indicators of the EU gas sector, to generalize the theoretical and methodological approaches to calculating the gas diversification factor, assess and analyze its level in the EU countries in 2001-2015, and study the experience of European countries in addressing the diversification problems. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study was the works of domestic and foreign scientists devoted to the issues of gas supply diversification. The study is based on the analysis of the gas sector indicators and used analysis, synthesis, combination grouping and statistical-economic methods. Results of the of the study showed that in the EU countries in recent years there has been a noticeable tendency to reduce natural gas reserves, reduce the level of its production and increase consumption, which leads to an increase in import dependence. The largest consumers of natural gas in the EU are the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and France. The main external importers of pipeline gas to the EU countries are the Russian Federation, Algeria and Norway, and liquefied gas – Qatar, Algeria and Nigeria. It is established that at the end of 2015, the most diversified gas supply is to countries such as France, Belgium and Italy; a low level of gas supply diversification is observed in Hungary, Poland and Greece. Practical implications. The analysis of basic indicators which characterize the state and development of trends of the European gas market in 2000-2015 is carried out. The assessment and analysis of the level of diversification of natural gas supplies in the EU countries in 2001-2015 have been analyzed. Value/originality. It was proposed an original approach to calculate the gas diversification factor, which takes into account both the number of sources and the structure of the volumes of supplies from different sources