Three Baltic countries stop importing Russian gas
Latvian officials say the Baltic states no longer import Russian natural gas, amid tensions between Europe and Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.
“Do we trust the Russian supply? Current events clearly show us that there is no longer any confidence,” said Uldis Bariss, managing director of Conexus Baltic Grid’s natural gas storage facility. Latvia, said April 2.
“As of April 1, Russian natural gas no longer flows to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania,” he said, adding that the Baltic market is being served by gas stored underground in Latvia. .
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs on a gas pipeline in Vladivostok, Russia in 2011. Photo: AFP.
The move comes after Russia asked “unfriendly” countries to pay for Russian gas purchases by ruble. The head of the Kremlin said on March 31 that existing contracts will be stopped if payments are not made. Countries considered “unfriendly” by Russia include the US, EU member states, the UK, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Ukraine.
While the US earlier last month decided to ban imports of Russian oil and gas, the EU has withheld contracts to buy gas from Moscow. Russia is supplying 40% of Europe’s gas needs, of which virtue, Italy and many Central European countries depend heavily on this supply. About 25% of the oil supply to Europe also comes from Russia.
Statistics by German data company Statista show that in 2020, 94% of Latvia’s gas imports come from Russia, while Estonia is 79% and Lithuania is 41%.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called on the rest of the EU to follow the example of the three Baltic states. “As of this month, there is no more Russian gas in Lithuania,” he wrote on Twitter. “If we can do it, the rest of Europe can too.”
The European Commission on March 28 confirmed that the EU aims to be completely independent of energy imports from Russia by 2027. The EU and the US on March 25 signed an agreement to supply more gas from Washington to Europe. Europe. The US said it will work with international partners, trying to secure at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) for the EU market by 2022 and continue to increase in the future. The longer-term goal is to secure about 50 billion cubic meters of LNG from the US to the EU each year, at least until 2030.
Pipelines that deliver Russian gas to Europe. Click on the picture to see details.
Thanh Tam (According to AFP)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
