Germany wants to free itself from dependence on Russian gas by 2024
America wants to ship at least 15 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe to reduce dependence on Moscow
Germany presented goals to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian energy and the US unveiled plans to divert gas to Europe, while Western allies stepped up efforts to reshape global energy markets and lock Moscow in for the Ukraine war punish.
Berlin vowed to bid farewell to Russian gas by mid-2024 and said it aims to become "virtually independent" from Russian oil by the end of this year.
While Europe is looking for alternative suppliers, the US said it, along with other producers, wants to supply at least 15 billion cubic meters of additional LNG to the EU this year. The announcement came on the second full day of US President Joe Biden's trip to Europe.
The energy supply targets announced by Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck underscored the focus of Europe's largest economy in efforts to reduce dependence on Russia, despite concerns about the impact on consumers.
Habeck said the country could be "independent of Russian gas except for a small part" as early as the summer of 2024. A ministry document says it is possible to reduce the share of Russian gas in consumption to just 10 percent by then.
The ministry said it would cut its reliance on Russian oil by half by the end of the summer and almost completely by the end of 2022. The ministry added that Germany also wants to end its demand for Russian coal by autumn this year.
Last month, as part of international sanctions against Russia, Germany suspended the Kremlin-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline before gas could flow through the pipeline.
The US LNG commitment, which confirmed a Financial Times report Thursday, did not say how much of the additional gas would come directly from America or from elsewhere, highlighting the difficulty of rapidly ramping up capacity and contracts in the energy market to redirect
A senior Biden administration official said the US has both increased LNG exports to Europe in recent months and arranged swaps with other countries, mostly in Asia, to shift supplies to the EU.
In the longer term, when the EU has developed more LNG infrastructure to import US LNG, the goals could be reached more directly from America. "The point here is to replace an unreliable LNG supplier with a much more reliable and secure partner in the US," the official said.
The EU is rushing to end its reliance on Russian gas, oil and coal as soon as possible, with Brussels targeting a two-thirds cut in Russian gas imports by the end of the year. That target will be difficult to achieve, however, as politicians are under intense pressure from voters to do everything they can to reduce household energy bills.
On Friday, Biden met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, where EU leaders discussed ways to stem the rise in energy prices on the second day of a summit. Various groups of Member States are divided on how much they should intervene in the gas and electricity markets to bring down costs.
Officially, the new LNG volumes would depend to a large extent on cargo being diverted to the EU from other markets. However, according to a fact sheet released by the White House, the US expects a further increase above the targeted 15 billion cubic meters.
Last year, the EU received around 22 bcm of LNG from the US, and a similar amount was planned for 2022. With the extra supplies under Friday's agreement, the EU is expected to receive around 37 bcm from the US this year, according to a senior Commission official.
However, this is intended as a lower limit, not an upper limit. "Our goal is to move up as quickly as possible," the commission official said, adding that because of its control over permits, the US government has "a whole range of incentives" to encourage suppliers to do more deliver to Europe.
The White House said it and the EU would "make efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of all new LNG infrastructure and associated pipelines."
"These steps will increase energy security, economic security and national security," Biden said Friday. "I know that giving up Russian gas will have a cost for Europe. But not only is it the right thing to do morally, it will also put us on a much stronger strategic footing."
Von der Leyen said the EU is "on track to diversify away from Russian gas and towards our friends and partners - reliable and trusted suppliers".
She said the 15 billion cubic meters pledged for 2022 would be enough to replace Russia's LNG exports to Europe.
In Germany, Habeck said the country is in the final stages of negotiations to purchase three floating regasification plants that can turn LNG back into gas. Energy companies Uniper and RWE have options to use the units on behalf of the German government, he said. According to the ministry, the three units would supply 27 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
According to Habeck, since Russia invaded Ukraine, the government has reduced its dependence on Russian coal imports from 50 to 25 percent, on oil imports from 35 to 25 percent and on gas from 55 to 40 percent.
"There's a lot of momentum in other places, too, so something's clearly moving here," he said. "It was always assumed that it would take five to seven years to end dependence on Russian gas, but we expect that to happen as early as the summer of '24."
Habeck said the government was preparing for the possibility of Russia cutting off supplies and stressed that "we must not allow ourselves to be blackmailed".