The United States will supply an additional 15 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year to replace nearly all the LNG that the EU currently imports from Russia.
As the EU agreed to phase out imports of gas, oil and coal from Russia as quickly as possible, the agreement with the US will make Europe less dependent on Russian gas, announced US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday.
"We are coming together to reduce dependence on Russian energy. Putin uses its proceeds for his war machine. Today, therefore, we are going to structurally reduce the dependence," Biden said at a press conference.
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"Today, we have agreed on a joint game plan toward that goal, while accelerating our progress towards a secure, clean energy future," he said, outlining that the US will deliver an additional 15 billion cubic metres of liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe this year.
Our cooperation on the sanctions against Russia has been exceptional.
It shows that when we act together, we are stronger and can make a difference. We are now reinforcing our cooperation in: • Humanitarian aid to 🇺🇦 • Energy • Protecting our democracies pic.twitter.com/mjrQcpb8wB — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 25, 2022
The agreement should ease the situation for EU Member States such as Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Austria, whose industries and societies largely run on Russian energy.
Von der Leyen also stressed the importance of reducing dependence. "We as Europeans want to diversify away from Russia, towards partners we can trust. And preferably our friends. This deal is an important step."
She called the war in Ukraine "a strategic failure" for Putin, and added that "this cooperation with the US shows how strong we are."
Additionally, long-term structural cooperation between the US and the EU will also be established for LNG, as well as for data protection and cyber security, Von der Leyen announced.
