July 28, 2022--Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Russian war on Ukraine has exposed multiple lines of vulnerabilities to national energy security. But while the main focus is on natural gas, those vulnerabilities reach deep into the U.S. power sector.

Canada ended its reliance on imported refined petroleum products before the outbreak of war. The United States made its own decision to follow a similar course when Russian forces crossed into Ukraine in late February. In Europe, meanwhile, the continental economies are working feverishly to break their dependence on Russian natural gas.

Starving Russia of revenues from commodities such as oil and natural gas are meant to rob the Kremlin of funds for its war chest. But breaking decades-long dependencies is no easy task, as is evident from the inflationary strains and the geopolitical risk premium emanating from the war.