Russia’s natural gas production is projected to reach a record high in 2022, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. The agency’s most recent quarterly report forecasted that Russia would produce 763 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, constituting the country’s highest annual gas production in thirty years. However, exports of natural gas have been slow to catch up with total production. Gazprom, which controls pipeline-gas exports from Russia, reported natural gas sales of just 185 billion cubic meters overseas last year, making for only the fourth-highest annual exports in a year that broke a new record for total production. With an estimated 1,688 trillion cubic feet, Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, and this abundance of gas has allowed the country to maintain a high degree of energy independence while supplying one third of Europe’s natural gas supply. One of the latest Russian efforts to expand …