Germany to reduce reliance on Russian oil, gas

Germany plans to stop buying Russian oil almost entirely by the end of the year and to cut its gas imports by 90 per cent over the next two years.

A compressor station near Mallnow, eastern Germany, where Russian gas is pumped. Picture: Getty Images

Germany plans to stop buying Russian oil almost entirely by the end of the year and to cut its gas imports by 90 per cent over the next two years through a “massive collective effort”.

Germany has been the strongest force standing in the way of a EU embargo on Russian energy that would significantly reduce the revenues funding Vladimir Putin’s war machine. The bloc has paid Russian state-owned companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft more than €19bn ($28bn) for oil and gas since the start of the ­invasion alone.

The German government says it needs more time to wean the country off Russian hydrocarbons and that cutting off the flow of gas too soon would inflict “devastating” damage on its economy, which ministers say could shrink by 5 per cent, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Last year Germany relied on Russia for 55 per cent of its gas, 50 per cent of its coal and 35 per cent of its oil. Yet Energy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert ­Habeck said German companies had begun shedding Russian energy contracts at a “crazy” pace since the war in Ukraine began.

“We’ve already hit the first important preliminary targets for freeing ourselves from the vice of Russian imports,” Mr Habeck said. “Every supply contract that is terminated harms Putin.”

Germany is on track to stop buying Russian coal by September, to become “virtually independent” of Russian oil by the end of the year, and to reduce its Russian gas imports to about 10 per cent of last year’s levels by the middle of 2024, according to a progress ­report from Habeck’s ministry.

The hardest part will be doing without the 46 billion cubic metres of Russian gas that Germany bought last year. Gas imports from Russia have already fallen by more than a quarter since the start of the year as prices rose sharply and German energy companies turned to Dutch and Norwegian suppliers.

The next steps include reducing gas consumption by 30 per cent through a national efficiency drive and replacing the Russian gas with liquefied natural gas from other countries, such as Qatar, ­Israel and the US.

The government hopes to generate 80 per cent of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by the end of the decade, and plans to make up some of the shortfall by burning more coal. Another ­option is to extend the lifespans of Germany’s three remaining ­nuclear reactors, due to be switched off by the end of this year.

The Times