The Netherlands has almost completely banned the import of Russian energy. Only liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still being supplied from Russia to a limited extent almost a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is reported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, which is announcing new measures to have sufficient energy in stock next winter.
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. In addition to saving, the Netherlands is fully committed to imports from other countries and the opening of oil and gas fields in the Dutch part of the North Sea will be accelerated in the near future. Strategic oil reserves have also been built up, sustainability projects have been brought forward and new wind farms at sea are being built, for example.
Gas storages full again
New measures will be taken in order to have sufficient energy next winter as well, announced Minister Rob Jetten (Energy). The large Dutch gas storage facilities will be filled to at least 90 percent again before next winter. In addition, efforts are being made to accelerate the opening of gas fields in the Dutch part of the North Sea. For the time being, the Groningen gas field is also still on ‘the pilot light’, although the cabinet still intends to close this gas field this year or next year. Whether this will actually happen will most likely be decided in June.
More liquefied gas imports
Work continues on further increasing the import capacity for liquefied natural gas (LNG). A lot of effort was put into this last year: the Netherlands doubled the import of this liquefied gas. This does come with a hefty price tag, now that liquefied gas is much more expensive than gas from the North Sea or the Groningen field. Nevertheless, the possibility of realizing even more additional import capacity for LNG from 2024 is being investigated. Part of this gas is also exported to neighboring countries, such as Germany and Belgium. “For imports, including LNG, the Netherlands is therefore working together in an EU context on an action plan for joint procurement,” the ministry reports. Liquefied natural gas is currently still being imported from Russia. But the percentage has been halved from 30 percent in 2021 to 15 percent now.
Sanctions in effect
Sanctions on Russian oil products came into effect last Sunday, and on December 5, 2022, the import ban on Russian crude oil was imposed. Since December last year, therefore, no more crude Russian petroleum has entered the Netherlands, this was about 30 percent in 2022. Nevertheless, the ministry is cautious about this. “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.”
According to the ministry, the import ban does not yet cause physical oil shortages. “We do not expect this because stocks have been stocked and refineries in the Netherlands are switching to oil from other countries. In addition, the Netherlands has its strategic stock of oil and oil products in order.”
No coal
In August, a ban on the import of Russian coal also came into effect. Since then, no more Russian coal enters the Netherlands and coal-fired power stations (which had to be reopened by Minister Jetten) run on coal from Australia, South Africa and other countries in North-West Europe, among others. With the reopening of the coal-fired power stations, a lot of gas is still being saved, since power stations in the Netherlands often run on natural gas.
No more gas through pipes
Although there are no sanctions on Russian gas, virtually no Russian gas enters the Netherlands via pipelines. Before the war in Ukraine, this was 25 percent of Dutch gas imports. Imports of Russian gas have also been reduced considerably in Europe in recent times. Before the war in Ukraine, the share of Russian gas was about 45 percent. This is now about 10 percent.
‘Don’t fill the war chest’
Minister Jetten says that the measures are intended not to further increase the ‘Russian war chest’. “No less than 60 percent of Russian state revenues came from fossil fuel exports. 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 imports from more diverse and stable regions, filling gas storages, organizing joint gas purchasing in Europe and saving energy,” said the minister.
The minister says that the purpose of the sanctions is to hit the Russian government in the wallet in the near future. “It is estimated that the Russian government loses about EUR 160 million a day from the sanction on crude oil alone. This will become more as soon as the consequences of the sanction on oil products become known,” says Jetten.