by Markus Wacket
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has backed out of plans to build strategic national coal reserves, industry and government sources told Reuters on Tuesday, as Russian forces’ invasion of Ukraine prompted Berlin to review its energy strategy.
This project, unveiled by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck after the start of Russia’s offensive on February 24, is no longer a priority for the German Economy Ministry, which has held consultations on the topic, these sources added.
These sources explained that Germany, the biggest importer of coal within the European Union, could obtain enough coal on the world market even in the event of an embargo on imports from Russia.
This project also risked driving up energy prices even further.
According to government sources, it was aimed at building up reserves to guarantee Germany’s supply of coal for 90 days.
In recent years, Russian supplies covered more than half of the country’s coal needs.
But since Berlin is striving to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, these supplies now represent less than 10%, without this affecting Germany’s energy plants.
At the end of April, a government document, which Reuters was able to consult, had already called into question the relevance of the strategic reserves project.
The Ministry of the Economy “must reassess the establishment of strategic coal reserves because of the embargo which has been decided on coal”, can we read in the document.
Germany no longer produces coal on its soil and last year imported some 32 million tonnes.
(Report Markus Wacket, French version Matthieu Protard, edited by Sophie Louet and Nicolas Delame)
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