Independence takes time
Habeck relies on Russian gas for another two years
03/25/2022 10:59 am
Germany gets most of its energy from Russia. The Federal Republic is particularly dependent on gas, but according to Economics Minister Habeck it is gradually opening up alternatives. In the case of oil and coal, the departure from dependency could be completed in just a few months.
According to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Germany is reducing its dependence on Russian energy imports “at a rapid pace”. There is progress in oil and coal in particular. “Companies let contracts with Russian suppliers expire, don’t renew them and switch to other suppliers. And at an incredible rate.” By the middle of this year, “Russian oil imports to Germany will probably be halved,” said Habeck in Berlin. By the end of the year, the aim is to be “almost independent” of Russian oil.
The dependence on coal will drop from 50 to around 25 percent in the coming weeks, Habeck said. By autumn it will be possible to become independent of Russian hard coal.
With gas, the process takes a little longer. Habeck emphasized again that an embargo is currently not possible. There is also progress there, but the process is “demanding”. However, it is possible to become “largely independent” from Russian gas “by mid-2024”.
LNG replaces Russian gas
The “Spiegel” had previously reported on a letter from the Federal Ministry of Economics, in which progress in the energy industry was attested. The magazine quotes the paper as saying that the dependency on Russian natural gas will only be “40 percent” instead of 55 percent at the end of this month. A good part has been replaced by LNG supplies.
According to this, the energy suppliers RWE and Uniper are in contract negotiations for three special ships with which liquid gas can be taken from tankers and made gaseous again. As a result, 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas could come to Germany from other regions of the world next winter. Savings in gas consumption, including replacing gas-fired power plants with coal-fired power plants, could “reduce the Russian share of gas to around 30 percent by the end of the year.”