An energy crisis is looming for a number of central European countries that could mean them turning to Russia for their supplies, according to a new report.
Those with less than a year's stockpile of energy resources are almost entirely dependent on imports from the likes of Russia, Norway and Qatar according to the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University.
France has under a year's worth of oil gas and coal, while Italy has less than a year of gas and coal and only one year of oil, according to the most recent data on known reserves and current consumption.
The UK has 5.2 years of oil, 4.5 years of coal and three years of gas remaining.
But other European countries could come to prop up their counterparts.
Germany many have less than a year of oil and only two years of gas left but it has over 500 years of coal. Bulgaria and Poland have 73 and 34 years of coal left respectively.
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In contrast resource-rich Russia has over 50 years of oil, over 100 years of gas and over 500 years of coal, based on their current levels of internal consumption.
But the crisis in Ukraine has drawn attention to Europe's reliance on oil and gas from Russia. There are concerns it could use the threat of winter supply disruptions as a political weapon.
"We continue to be very reliant on [international fossil fuel] markets and and anything that happens to major exporters will have a significant impact on Europe." Dr Aled Jones, Director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin told CNBC via telephone.
"We are calling for real, serious and urgent debate between governments and businesses ... this is not an issue that can be discussed in 10 years time."
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