Western partners fear that Russia will cut off gas to Europe after possible sanctions in case of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, large European energy companies reported that they would not be able to cover the volumes of gas supplied by Russia, wrote Reuters with reference to sources.
The United States, working on diversifying gas supplies to the EU in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, has begun reaching out to allies and suppliers, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a Feb. 4 briefing. According to sources Bloomberg, The US has offered to supply excess gas to the EU to China, but negotiations have so far failed. The same proposal was made to the authorities of South Korea and India, the agency reported. In addition, the United States asked the gas companies of Qatar, Nigeria, Egypt, Libya and Algeria to increase production in the event of an escalation in Ukraine, writes Bloomberg.
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The day before, February 9, Kyodo reported that Japan was ready to supply gas to the EU in case of interruptions.
Politico called the reason for US consideration of new sanctions against Russia
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, in turn, denied the assumption of a decrease in gas supplies in response to possible sanctions. He noted that Moscow has always been a “reliable guarantor of Europe’s energy security” and fulfilled its obligations under contracts even when relations with the West worsened.