World Defense Show kicks off in Riyadh with executives panel

RIYADH: The political fallout between Russia and Ukraine are affecting the energy sector on a macro and micro level. Countries like Italy and Germany are setting plans as they try to mitigate dependency on Russian supplies. On the other hand, firms like Tesla are expanding amid rising competition.

Looking at the bigger picture: 

·Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday to set a plan on how to reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies, Bloomberg reported, citing the country’s  Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani.

Around 40 percent of the European country’s gas supply is imported from Russia.

·Germany is set to build a liquified natural gas, or LNG, terminal with a capacity of eight billion cubic meters daily as it attempts to divert supply sources away from Russia, Bloomberg reported.

The LNG terminal will be built in collaboration with Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company Nederlandse Gasunie NV as well as multinational energy firm RWE AG.

Through a micro lens: 

·The Russian majority state owned multinational energy corporation Gazprom continues to supply an average of 109.5 cubic meters daily of natural gas to Europe through Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing Ukraine’s operator pipeline firm.

·American electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc has received conditional approval to start commercial production of its 5 billion euro ($5.5 billion) gigafactory near Berlin after months of delays, Reuters reported. 

The plant falls in line with chief executive Elon Musk’s goal to lead the electric vehicle market surpassing rivals including Germany’s own Volkswagen.