US, EU make plan to reduce reliance on Russian gas

The US will work to supply 15 billion cubic metres (BCM) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year to help wean it off Russian gas supplies, the transatlantic partners said on Friday.

The EU is aiming to cut its dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end all Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia supplies around 40 per cent of Europe’s gas needs.

Concerns over security of supply were reinforced this week after Russia ordered the switch of gas contract payments to roubles, raising the risk of a supply squeeze and even higher prices, reports Reuters. US LNG plants are producing at full capacity and analysts say most of any additional US gas sent to Europe would have to come from exports that would have gone elsewhere and already high European gas prices would have to rise further to attract those cargoes to the 27-nation bloc.

LNG under contract cannot be easily redirected

“It normally takes two to three years to build a new production facility, so this deal may be more about the re-direction of existing supplies than new capacity,” said Alex Froley, gas and LNG analyst at ICIS. Senior US administration officials did not specify what amount or percentage of the extra LNG supply would come from the United States.

Even if the 15 BCM is achievable, “it still falls well short of replacing Russian gas imports, which amounted to around 155 BCM in 2021,” analysts at ING Bank said.

US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also announced a plan to form a task force to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

The Commission will also work with EU countries to ensure they are able to receive about 50 BCM of additional LNG until at least 2030, the factsheet provided by the White House said.

It was unclear whether it referred to amounts additional to last year’s 22 BCM of US exports to the EU.

The EU has already stepped up efforts to secure more LNG after talks with supplier countries, resulting in record deliveries of 10 BCM of LNG in more than 120 vessels in January.

Ukrainian forces advance east of Kyiv

Ukrainian troops were recapturing towns east of Kyiv and Russian forces who had been trying to seize the capital are falling back on overextended supply lines, Britain said on Friday.

The mayor of a suburb east of Kyiv said Ukrainian troops had recaptured a nearby village and thousands of civilians were leaving the area in response to a call from the authorities to get out of the way of the counter-attack.

US President Joe Biden was due to visit Poland for a first-hand look at the refugee crisis, which has seen 3.6 million Ukrainians flee abroad.

Battlelines near Kyiv have been frozen for weeks with two main Russian armoured columns menacing the capital from the northwest and the east.

But in an intelligence update on Friday, Britain described a Ukrainian counter-offensive that had pushed Russians far back in the east. “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 km east of Kyiv,” the update said.

Volodymyr Borysenko, mayor of Boryspol, an eastern suburb where Kyiv’s main airport is located, said 20,000 civilians had left the area, answering a call to clear out so Ukrainian troops could push the Russians further back.

Ukrainian forces had recaptured a village from Russian troops the previous day between Boryspol and Brovary, and would have pushed on further but had halted to avoid putting civilians in danger, he said.

Mariupol theatre strike casualties announced

Ukrainian officials said around 300 people might have died after last week’s Russian strike on a theatre in the port city of Mariupol being used as a shelter by many hundreds of people.

“From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” Mariupol city hall wrote on Telegram.

It described the attack as “cynical” and claimed that Russia knew civilians were taking refuge in the building.