Germany making progress cutting Russian oil amid invasion of Ukraine

Germany is trying to wean itself off Russian energy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, but it is an uphill battle after decades of relying on Russia for energy supplies.

Germany has made significant progress towards reducing its exposure to imports of Russian gas, oil and coal since Russia invaded Ukraine, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Friday.

Germany is trying to wean itself off Russian energy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, but this is an uphill battle after decades of relying on Russia for energy supplies.

Habeck said imports of Russian oil now accounted for 25% of German imports, down from 35% before the invasion, and gas imports have been cut to 40% from 55%. Russian hard coal imports were down to 25% from 50% before the invasion.

“The first important milestones to free us from the grip of Russian imports have been achieved,” he said.

By this summer, the share of Russian gas imports will fall to 24%, but he said it could take until the summer of 2024 for Europe’s largest economy to no longer be reliant on Russian gas.

Habeck said achieving that goal would require enormous effort by the government, states, municipalities, companies and consumers. He said utilities were working hard to tackle decades of reliance on Russian pipelines.

The minister has been visiting gas producers such as Qatar and Norway in recent weeks to ask them to step up supplies for Germany.

Utilities Uniper and RWE are working on liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to bring sea-borne gas into the country.