Halve Russian oil imports by the middle of the year, while also rapidly reducing its dependence on gas and coal from Moscow. These are the moves that Berlin is working on according to what the magazine Der Spiegel reports today, citing a document from the Ministry of Economy.
Russian gas could represent only 30% of German imports by the end of the year, down from more than half now. The Scholz government still this year aims to reduce oil imports to almost zero. Finally, purchases of Russian coal are expected to end by the beginning of the summer.
On the gas front, Germany plans to equip itself with three floating LNG ships through the energy companies RWE AG and Uniper SE. The companies are negotiating contracts to lease the floating storage and regasification units and the government is looking into potential locations on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, according to Spiegel.
Yesterday the leader dei Verdi, Robert Habeck, said the energy sanctions against Russia may have been a “game changer” for the war in Ukraine. However, the vice-chancellor and minister of economy and climate protection explained that his country is unable to take such a measure immediately. “Perhaps, an embargo immediately imposed on all three sources of energy (gas, oil and coal) would have been a game changer, perhaps the war in Ukraine would have ended after three or four days,” Habeck told the German parliament yesterday. “We are not yet in a position to impose an immediate embargo on coal, oil or gas from Russia,” he added. However, Habeck explained how many German companies have already begun to implement a “phased embargo” of their own accord.
Today agreement with the US to import LNG
Germany as well as other European Union countries are implementing plans to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden are expected to unveil an agreement today to pave the way for additional imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.