EU Claims to Have Overcome Dependence on Russian Gas

The Russian Federation has reduced gas exports to European countries by 80 percent over the past eight months. The European Union has managed to overcome its dependence on Russian gas and oil supplies. European companies managed to compensate for 80 percent of Russian gas exports at the expense of supplies from the U.S. and Norway. Ursula von der Leyen, chairman of the European Commission, said this on Sunday, March 5, according to the press service of the German government. “Of course, good friends such as the United States and Norway helped us by supplying us with liquefied and piped gas,” Ursula von der Leyen said. According to Eurostat, from August 2022 to January 2023, European gas consumption fell by 19 percent compared to the five-year average over the same period. Gas consumption in Finland dropped by 57.3%, in Lithuania by 47.9% and in Sweden by 40.2%. Recall the oil and gas revenues of the aggressor country of Russia over two months in 2023 amounted to Br946.7 trillion against Br1.766 trillion a year earlier. As you know, gas reserves in Europe are now at an all-time high for this time of year. Storage facilities are currently 60.62% full (21.46% higher than the average for the last five years on this date), with 65.82 billion cubic meters of gas. It has also become known that in 2022 gas consumption in Europe has decreased by 13% or more than 70 billion cubic meters. This is the strongest decline in demand in the region in history.