Denmark continues the tough rhetoric with Russia over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, but there could be serious implications for the country's future energy provision given dwindling oil and gas reserves in the North Sea.

Last month a report from the energy authority, Energistyrelsen, revealed that Denmark was not energy self-sufficient for the first time in 18 years and a new report from government-run Energinet.dk showed that oil and gas supplies will continue to be stretched in coming years.

“Then we will have to get our gas from the international markets,” Jeppe Danø, the marketing head of Energi.dk, said in a press release. “We have just expanded our import capacity on our side of the border, but Germany still needs to complete its export capacity expansion to Denmark.”

READ MORE: Denmark no longer self-sufficient in energy

Sustainable transition
Energinet.dk expects that the gas supply line from Germany will be fully functional by 2015 and, while a crisis could occur, local and international energy provisions combined with Danish gas reserves should be enough to keep Denmark and Sweden supplied in the coming years.   

But Denmark’s transition to sustainability presents another challenge and the government wants the nation to run 100 percent on sustainable energy by 2050.

Biogas and other green gasses must be incorporated into the Danish supply chain and as of now there is only one biogas actor operating in the Danish gas network.

The European gas market is dominated by Norway and Russia, which each account for 25 percent of total gas deliveries in Europe.