Germany is preparing a powerful blow to Russia. The country will completely stop buying Russian coal on August 1, and Russian oil on December 31 this year, German Deputy Finance Minister Jörg Kukis said at a press conference in Sydney, quoted by Reuters.
The key challenge will be covering the gap that will be left when the EU gives up the 158 billion cubic meters of gas that Russia supplies each year, Kukis stressed to the energy forum in Sydney, organized jointly by the Australian government and the International Energy Agency.
Previously, Russia supplied 40% of the coal and oil used in Germany, the deputy minister noted. “Anyone who knows the history of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which was an instrument of the Soviet empire over Eastern Europe, knows that giving up this dependence is not a simple thing, but it is something that we will achieve in a few months,” he stressed.
Germany is rapidly preparing LNG import terminals to help cover the shortfall. However, Kukis pointed out that the US and Qatar together can supply Europe with only about 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year in the form of liquefied natural gas.
“We can’t just imagine that this problem doesn’t exist,” Kukis added. He noted that Germany is focused on the transition to net-zero emissions and has recently introduced laws aimed at accelerating the development of renewable energy projects, but gas will be essential to the change.
–
