Germany will stop buying Russian coal from August 1 and will stop buying Russian oil on December 31, German Deputy Finance Minister Jörg Kukies said at the Sydney Energy Forum on Wednesday. Until recently, Russia supplied 40 percent of German coal and 40 percent of German oil, according to Kukies.
Continuing to source coal and oil from Russia is not an option, Kukies said. “Anyone who knows the history of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which was already an instrument of the Soviet empire across Eastern Europe, knows it is essential free from that dependence.”
According to the deputy minister, the gas supply is a challenge. He is deeply concerned about “the huge void that will be created if the European Union gets rid of the 158 billion cubic meters of gas a year supplied by Russia.” In order to fill this gap, Germany is working hard to develop import terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG), he says.
He stressed that the US and Qatar together can supply about 30 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to Europe, but that is still far from enough. “We can’t just ignore this problem,” Kukies said.
Brazil wants to buy as much Russian diesel as possible
Unlike Germany, Brazil plans to buy as much diesel from Russia as possible, despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine and sanctions imposed on other countries. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced earlier that an agreement with Russia was nearing completion.