War in Ukraine live: the United States and the European Union announce a partnership to reduce European dependence on Russian fossil fuels – Le Monde

Germany announces that it is strongly reducing its dependence on Russian energy resources Getting out of dependence on Russian energy resources is now a priority objective for Westerners. While a “task force” has just been announced by the United States and the European Union (EU) to reduce European dependence on Russian gas, Germany announced on Friday that it was going to sharply and rapidly reduce its own dependence on Russian energies. “By the middle of the year, Russian oil imports to Germany are expected to have halved, by the end of the year we are aiming for near independence,” the economy ministry said in a statement. a statement, adding that “by autumn we can become globally independent of Russian coal”. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Germany imported a third of its oil and around 45% of its coal from Russia, according to German government statistics. But now, companies buying hydrocarbons “let contracts with Russian suppliers expire, do not renew them and turn to other suppliers”, according to the government. For gas, on the other hand, on which the country depended more than 55% before the crisis, the process should however be longer. Germany could be “largely independent (…) by mid-2024”, he said. The country released 1.5 billion euros at the beginning of March for massive purchases of liquefied gas, delivered by the ocean, and coming from diversified producers, such as Qatar, or the United States. But Germany does not currently have a terminal to transport this gas, and therefore depends on the infrastructures located in its European neighbours. Three floating LNG terminals, huge boats allowing the reception of liquid gas on the coasts, must therefore be reserved by the companies Uniper and RWE, at the request of the government, the ministry also indicated on Thursday.