The European Union has developed a plan to phase out Russian gas, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said on the Europe 1/CNews TV channel, ZN.ua reports.
“We import 155 billion cubic meters a year from Russia. We will have to get rid of Russian gas… Putin is using gas to divide us, he has done everything for many years to divide Europe,” Breton said.
In 2021, about 45% of EU natural gas imports came from Russia.
According to the European Commissioner, it is necessary to quickly abandon the import of Russian gas. In particular, the EU plans to increase purchases of liquefied natural gas from the US and Qatar, as well as expand the capacity of green energy.
“We developed a plan with my teams,” Breton said.
The new plan will include “50 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas imports from the US or Qatar, an additional 10 billion from existing pipelines, acceleration of offshore wind turbines and photovoltaic panels totaling 25 billion cubic meters,” he said. Restarting coal-fired power plants is also an option under consideration.
The seventh package of EU sanctions will include Russian gas and an expanded list of banks, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said.
“The seventh package of sanctions against Russia is our priority. The EU has already begun work on it. New restrictions should apply to Russian gas and expand the list of banks that will be disconnected from SWIFT, in particular, Gazprombank,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. on Saturday evening with reference to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland, Pavel Yablonsky.
The volume of electricity exports from Ukraine to the European Union can replace approximately 17% of the Russian gas consumed by European countries, the Ministry of Energy believes.
“According to our estimates, electricity from Ukraine can replace approximately 17% of Russian gas exported to the EU,” Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Mykola Kolesnyk said during a speech at the 25th Gazterm-2022 conference held in Poland on May 16-17.
According to the ministry, Ukraine submitted its proposals to the European strategy REpowerEU, which provide for practical steps to use the export capacity of the Ukrainian energy system.
“The new REpowerEU strategy should provide clear solutions in three aspects: how to replace Russian energy, how to end Russian control over energy assets in Europe, and how to ensure that this situation does not happen again,” the official said.
At the same time, the deputy minister emphasized the need for decisive action by the governments of European states regarding the complete rejection of Russian energy sources, noting that Ukraine remains a reliable partner of Europe in the energy sector and is ready to make a significant contribution to the reliability of natural gas supplies to European countries.
In particular, he drew attention to the possibility for European companies to use half of the capacity of Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities (about 15 billion cubic meters) for seasonal or strategic gas reserves, which Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko announced in early May.
As reported, the Ukrainian government plans to resume the operation of additional transmission lines with Poland for the export of Ukrainian nuclear energy.
Slovakia will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros in accordance with the agreed rules, Slovak Prime Minister Edward Heger said.
“The company Slovensky plynarensky priemysel (Slovak gas industry) has signed a long-term contract with the Russian Gazprom and payments for the purchased gas will be made in euros in accordance with the agreed rules and recommendations of the European Commission,” Heger wrote on the social network.
Slovensky plynarensky priemysel is the largest oil refinery in the country.
The Prime Minister also announced on Twitter (SPB: TWTR) that Slovakia, together with the EU, will accelerate the move away from gas dependence on Russia.
Ukraine should remain a transit country for Russian gas, and Berlin expects the transit agreement with Russia to be extended, the German government’s official representative, Steffen Seibert, told reporters on Monday in Berlin.
“It remains central for the German government that Ukraine remain a transit country even following the completion of construction on Nord Stream 2. There is a transit agreement,” Seibert said.
The representative said that the current transit agreement “is valid at least until 2024, though the agreement envisages that the parties will review the possibility of extending the agreement until 2034.”
“We expect the agreement to be extended,” Seibert said.
The trilateral talks in the Ukraine-Russia-European Commission format on transit of Russian gas across Ukraine in 2020 would be resumed in September 2019, Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic has said.
He said in Strasbourg, speaking to deputies of the European parliament of the new convocation after the EU Summit meeting that the trilateral talks by him will be resumed in September.
