LONDON, April 14. /TASS/. EU countries, especially France and Germany, may consider a partial return to importing gas from Russia amid the worsening of relations with the US, Reuters said. The European Union is wary that Washington could use LNG supplies as leverage in trade talks, the agency wrote citing experts.
"If there is a reasonable peace in Ukraine, we could go back to flows of 60 billion cubic meters, maybe 70, annually, including LNG," Didier Holleaux, executive vice-president at France's Engie, told Reuters in an interview, adding that Russia could supply around 20-25% of EU needs, down from 40% before the conflict in Ukraine.
The head of French oil major TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, has warned Europe against over-relying on US gas. "We need to diversify, many routes, not over-rely on one or two," he told Reuters. Total is a large exporter of US LNG and also sells Russian LNG from Novatek. "Europe will never go back to importing 150 billion cubic meters from Russia like before the war <...> but I would bet maybe 70 bcm," Pouyanne said.
Christof Guenther, managing director of InfraLeuna, the operator of Leuna Chemical Park, which is one of Germany’s biggest chemical clusters hosting plants of Dow Chemical and Shell among others, noted that enterprises are "in a severe crisis and can’t wait." "We need Russian gas, we need cheap energy - no matter where it comes from. <…> We need Nord Stream 2 because we have to keep energy costs in check," the agency quoted Klaus Paur, managing director of Leuna-Harze, a mid-sized petrochemical maker at the Leuna Park, as saying.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. A 20% rate was imposed on products from the EU. On April 9, EU members greenlighted the introduction of a retaliatory package of measures, 25% tariffs on a wide range of agriculture and industrial products from the US. On April 9, Trump announced a 90-day suspension of tariff increase for 75 countries that were ready for talks.
