European Union unveils plan to slash Russian gas imports this year

The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, announced that the European Commission will present a draft legislation in April to establish an average level of reserve storage for the month of September, with specific objectives for each country.

The goal of reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian hydrocarbons was announced at a time when the United States is threatening a ban on Russian oil, a possibility that makes European countries wary of the potentially devastating effect of the measure.

Thus, Simson announced that the Commission intends to cut its dependence on Russia by using new gas supplies, increasing reserves for next winter and accelerating efforts to be more energy efficient.

“By the end of this year, we can replace 100 billion cubic meters of gas imports from Russia. That’s two-thirds of what we import from them,” European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, responsible for EU policy making on energy and climate change.

In his plan, the EU aims to become completely independent of Russian gas, oil and coal by 2030.

Timmermans, however, urged caution. Russia supplies 40% percent of the EU’s gas needs. Italy, Germany and several Central European countries are particularly dependent on that gas.

About 25% of Europe’s oil needs are also covered by crude oil imported from Russia.

This dependency has led EU nations to reject insistent calls by Ukraine and the United States to severely sanction Russia’s energy sector for the military invasion of Ukrainian territory.

“The reality is that there are a good number of our member states that would be in serious trouble if overnight Russia stopped providing” that energy, Timmermans admitted to MEPs.

Therefore, he added, “We must make sure that we do not do more harm to ourselves than to [Vladimir] Putin,” he added.

The non-binding proposal calls for 90% of EU gas storage capacity to be filled by September 30, up from 30% currently.