The European Union has expanded its precautionary measures in the event that Russia suddenly cut off gas supplies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on Tuesday.
Over the past few months, the EU executive has been in talks with major exporters of liquefied natural gas, such as the US, Qatar and Egypt, to increase supplies to Europe.
Negotiations are also underway with major importers such as Japan and South Korea, so that they can make their stocks available to the EU, according to Germany’s Von der Leyen.
Tankers carrying liquefied natural gas from Qatar, for example, may be diverted to Europe instead of going to Japan. In this way, the EU already in January imported record quantities of this resource, namely 10,000 billion cubic meters.
Von der Leyen also pointed to the fact that the European bloc has already expanded its pipeline network and terminal capacity for the type of gas since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. In the event of a total freeze on deliveries by Russia, emergency measures would still be necessary, however, conceded the President of the Commission.
The EU is indeed highly dependent on Russian gas. Currently, just under a quarter of the union’s energy needs are covered by gas. And 90% of this supply comes from Russia. About 40% of imports are delivered by the Russian company Gazprom.
If Russia decided to limit its deliveries, for example in retaliation once morest European sanctions responding to a possible Russian aggression in Ukraine, the EU would then be heavily hit in return.
