News item | 10-02-2023 | 08:00
Roughly a year after the Russian invasion, virtually no Russian energy is coming to the Netherlands anymore. Liquefied Russian gas (LNG), which is not supplied by pipeline but by ship, is the only exception to this. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it has been agreed in Europe to phase out the import of Russian energy as quickly as possible. The Netherlands worked hard to prevent the energy shortages that threatened to arise as a result. With the latest sanctions package on Russian oil products, which took effect last Sunday, all European energy sanctions are now in force. As a result, virtually no Russian oil products, crude oil and coal enter the Netherlands. The import of Russian gas – not sanctioned – has also been considerably reduced in Europe and the Netherlands.
Minister Jetten: “Shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, we set the goal of no longer filling the Russian war chest by limiting energy imports from Russia as much and as quickly as possible. Because no less than 60% of Russian state revenues came from the export of fossil fuels. We have worked hard all this time to find alternatives, to save energy, to accelerate sustainability and to dampen the rise in energy prices where possible. We will continue to work hard to meet current gas needs. For example, by facilitating more LNG import from more diverse and stable regions, filling gas storages properly, organizing joint gas purchasing in Europe and saving energy.”
Less Russian gas
Although there are no sanctions on Russian gas, virtually no Russian gas enters the Netherlands via pipelines anymore. Before the war in Ukraine, this was 25% of Dutch imports. In addition, the percentage of liquefied gas (LNG) from Russia has been halved from 30% in 2021 to 15% now. The reduced import of gas from Russia has largely been compensated by LNG, but also by more imports from Belgium (doubling) and the United Kingdom. The import of Russian gas has also been reduced considerably in Europe recently. Before the war in Ukraine, the share of Russian gas was about 45%. This is now about 10%.
A number of measures are being taken to ensure that there is also sufficient gas next winter. The gas storages will again be filled to at least 90%. This accounts for about a third of national consumption, but that gas is also used by other European countries. Work is also underway to further increase the import capacity for LNG, following the doubling of capacity last year. Both the new Eems Energy Terminal and the GATE terminal offer opportunities for this. In addition, the possibility of realizing new LNG terminals in the Netherlands from 2024 is being investigated. For imports, including LNG, the Netherlands is working together at EU level on an action plan for joint procurement.
Russian oil and coal phase-out
The import ban on Russian crude oil came into effect on December 5, 2022, followed by the import ban on Russian oil products such as diesel and kerosene from February 5. Since December last year, no crude Russian oil has entered the Netherlands. It cannot be completely ruled out that Russian petroleum or petroleum products enter Europe indirectly, because this is sometimes mixed elsewhere and the origin is therefore difficult to trace. In addition to the ban on the import of Russian oil and oil products, the EU member states have also decided to set a maximum price on these Russian products: above this price, no company from the EU may transport, insure or provide any other service for this purpose. The main purpose of the sanctions is to hit the Russian government in the wallet. It is estimated that the Russian government loses about EUR 160 million a day from this sanction alone, and this will increase once the consequences of the sanction on oil products become known.
Physical shortages in the Netherlands are not expected in the short term because stocks have been stocked and refineries in the Netherlands are well on their way to switching to oil from other countries. In addition, the Netherlands has its strategic stock of oil and oil products in order.
The import of Russian coal has been prohibited since August 10, 2022, and no more Russian coal is entering the Netherlands. Replacement imports have been arranged for some time from Australia and South Africa, among others, to fill the gaps that have arisen, so that the coal-fired power stations in the Netherlands are still able to take over the production of gas-fired power stations.