The European Union is set to increase its liquefied natural gas import volume by almost a third in a continued move to reduce its dependence on Russian supplies.
Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, tweeted on Thursday that the union was gearing up to addThe extra infrastructure will help alleviatethat the 27-member bloc experienced in the past year and provide the continent with more LNG for the future. The move will increase its regasification capacity from 178 to 227 billion cubic meters, Sefcovic tweeted.
The announcement comes alongside remarks from European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, directing European companies not to enter any new LNG trade deals with Russia, as the continent tries to completely shed Russian"I encourage all member states and all companies to stop buying Russian LNG, and not to sign any new gas contracts with Russia once the existing contracts have expired," she said in an EU meeting on Thursday.
Though the bloc weathered the crisis thanks to a mild winter and increased imports from alternative suppliers, such as the US, it continues to depend on Russian LNG, and imports of the commodity"We can and should get rid of Russian gas completely as soon as possible, still keeping in mind our security of supply," Simson said.
Meanwhile, it continues to buy Russian LNG at scale...
Is this part of the new green/ energy deal bill thing?