By Adedapo Adesanya
The phased-out plans by the European Union (EU) to ban Russian energy is an indicator that it is stepping up efforts to wean itself from Russian natural gas by increasing imports of natural gas from African countries.
According to a draft EU document, the EU plans to increase liquified natural gas imports by 50 billion cubic meters and boost shipments of pipeline gas from countries other than Russia by 10 billion cubic meters.
Collectively, Nigeria, Algeria, Senegal, and Mozambique sit on close to 600 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
Nigeria is already the fourth biggest liquified natural gas supplier to Europe and it will have to compete with several other countries in Africa with large gas reserves.
The EU also wants to work out a deal to secure 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the United States. If the bloc’s plans come to fruition, the EU could reduce its dependence on Russian gas by nearly 67 per cent in 2022.
The EU’s draft energy strategy also seeks to prepare the region for imports of 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen by 2030 to help replace gas from Russia, in line with the ambitious EU Green Deal to walk away from fossil fuels and reach climate neutrality by mid-century.
The EU is trying to shift away from Russian sources of gas in response to the current military action in Ukraine. It is also concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand to pay for the fuel in rubles.
On Wednesday, the bloc called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia and target the country’s biggest bank and major broadcasters in the sixth package of sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
European Commission President, Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, proposed having EU member nations phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.
“We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimizes the impact on global markets,” she said.
The proposals must be unanimously approved to take effect and are likely to be the subject of fierce debate.
She conceded that getting all 27 member countries — some of them landlocked and highly dependent on Russia for energy supplies — to agree on oil sanctions “will not be easy.”
If approved, the ban on oil imports would be the second package of EU sanctions targeting Russia’s lucrative energy industry since the country invaded Ukraine on February 24 but some analysts have asked if Africa will take advantage of this situation.
Dipo Olowookere