UK serves key role in saving EU from energy crisis says expert
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The EU published its new energy strategy on Tuesday that details its plan to completely cut its energy ties with Vladimir Putin.The bloc claims it “can reach independence from Russian gas well before the end of the decade” and cut imports by up to two-thirds in 2022. But as 40 percent of Europe’s gas is supplied by Russia, it has sparked fears that the EU may not be able to last through winter if its gas storage levels are low and reserves are not built up.
But the UK can step in by exporting energy to the bloc, according to Dr Jack Sharples from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
He told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee: “One of the things that we think would happen if Russian supplies to Europe got cut off is that the UK would import a lot more liquified natural gas (LNG) and then pretty much immediately re-export it to continental Europe.
“The LNG terminals in north-western Europe in Dunkirk in France, in Zeebrugge in Belgium and Port Rotterdam in the Netherlands would pretty much go to full import capacity immediately.
“And they would still be trying to suck more gas in, so actually the UK would act as a landbridge allowing more LNG to reach north-west Europe.
“So we (the UK) would play a key role, really, in helping mitigate some of the impacts of the loss of Russian supply.”
And as part of the EU’s plan, it has formulated a “gas storage policy” which will require gas storage levels in the EU to be filled by at least 90 percent by October 1 each year.
Britain’s exported LNG would likely make a significant contribution towards that storage as vast volumes of gas imports the EU previously relied on will plummet.
And Brussels’ plan does suggest looking for additional LNG partners, as well as increasing the production of other energy sources like biogas.
It also involves speeding up the rollout of renewable hydrogen as the bloc looks to diversify its energy sources by cutting dependency on fossil fuels to provide power.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement: “We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas. We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us.”
This comes as Russia continues its horrifying military siege of Ukraine the has prompted the West to cut its ties with Putin.
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Sanctioning Russia’s energy sector has been tipped to batter the Russian economy, which has already been dealt another blow by sanctions that targeted banks and oligarchs to name a few.
And Putin’s energy empire had already suffered a knock when major energy giants like Shell, BP and Exxon pulled out of key projects such as Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline, and Sakhalin 2 LNG project, seeing billions of pounds worth of funding pulled out.
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