Germany begins slow move away from Russian gas

Germany begins slow move away from Russian gas

BERLIN: The invasion of Ukraine has thrown Germany’s problematic dependence on Russian gas into stark relief, forcing Europe’s largest economy to urgently reshape its energy mix. In a previously unthinkable step for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s young government, the crisis even has politicians considering delaying Germany’s planned exit from nuclear energy and coal to keep the lights on. “We will change course to overcome our import dependence,” Scholz said Sunday at an extraordinary session of the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, on the Ukraine crisis. The decision represents a massive and expensive reversal for the government which has banked on Russia to secure its energy needs over the past two decades.

With Russia increasingly isolated internationally as a result of economic sanctions over Ukraine, Berlin can no longer rely on Moscow to keep supplying over half of the country’s gas. While energy supplies have largely been exempted from the West’s response, policymakers still needed to “prepare for a scenario” where Russia “stops gas deliveries”, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Tuesday.

Liquefied gas

Initially, Germany hopes to substitute Russian supplies with larger deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a super-chilled form of the fuel, which can be imported by sea from producers such