Moscow has heightened fears of an energy war by threatening to shut down a major natural gas pipeline to Germany after the US pushed its European allies to consider banning Russian oil imports over its invasion of Ukraine.
In a speech on Russian state television, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said: “Abandoning Russian oil would be disastrous for the global market” and said the price of oil could rise to more than $300 a barrel.
Novak referred to Germany’s decision last month to suspend the certification of the second Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, saying: “We have every right to take the appropriate decision and impose an embargo on the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.”
He stated that it was impossible to quickly find a replacement for Russian oil on the European market. “It will take years, and for European consumers it will still be much more expensive. Ultimately, they will suffer the most from such an outcome,” he said.
Analysts at Bank of America said prices could reach $200 a barrel if most Russian exports are cut, with oil prices hitting a nearly 14-year high on Tuesday and Brent oil futures reaching $125.19 a barrel. .
Novak’s threat concerns the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany and follows comments from the head of the European Commission on climate policy that the EU could phase out Russian gas within a few years and start limiting its dependence within a few months.
“It’s not easy, but it’s doable,” Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament’s Environment Committee on Monday. Russia supplies about 40% of gas to Europe.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns about energy security, and the European Commission will propose plans on Tuesday to diversify Europe’s fossil fuel supply by moving away from Russia and moving more quickly to renewables.
On Monday, Joe Biden held a video conference with the leaders of France, Germany and the UK, urging them to support a ban on Russian oil imports. However, the US was ready to move forward without its European allies, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the idea is gaining momentum in the White House and is the subject of “very active discussion.” Boris Johnson drew criticism after he said the UK might have to boost domestic gas and oil production.
In other developments:
Ukrainian intelligence said that a Russian general, the second such officer in a week, was killed in the battles near Kharkov. According to him, it was a conversation between Russian FSB officers who discussed the death of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov and complained that their secure communications no longer worked on the territory of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rallied the nation in a fresh video message late at night, saying “heroic” resistance is turning the war into a “nightmare” for Russia. Giving the audience a tour of his Kiev quarters, he promised to stay in the capital until the war was won.
According to the head of the military department of the region, several children died as a result of Russian bombing in Sumy.
The humanitarian crisis continues to deepen, with 1.7 million Ukrainians believed to have fled the fighting and the total could reach 5 million, the EU said. The UN Human Rights Office reported 406 confirmed civilian deaths, but said the number was a significant underestimate.
Zelenskiy is due to address British parliamentarians on Tuesday via video link and is expected to issue a call for NATO to introduce more weapons and a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian website Unian, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the country’s prospects for joining the EU have increased significantly. Last week, the distance to EU membership was as far as the moon, but now it was only from Kyiv to the city of Vinnytsia — a distance of only 262 km or 162 miles, he said.
New talks between Ukraine and Russia are expected after the third round ended without reaching an agreement on the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors, although the Ukrainian negotiator said little progress had been made. French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Vladimir Putin of “moral and political cynicism” and hypocrisy for promising to protect civilians so that they can only flee to Russia.
The European Commission’s draft energy plan, seen by Reuters, calls for an increase in imports of gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from other countries, as well as a phased transition to alternative gases such as hydrogen and biomethane.
Other elements will be aimed at accelerating the construction of wind and solar farms and ensuring that countries fill up gas storage before winter sets in to mitigate supply disruptions. Europe’s gas storage facilities should be 80-90% full by next winter, Timmermans said. Storage levels were around 75% as of the end of September last year.
The International Energy Agency said Europe could cut Russian gas imports by more than half within a year, but that would require a range of urgent measures, from replacing gas-fired boilers with heat pumps to a significant increase in LNG imports.
EU leaders could agree at a summit this week to phase out the bloc’s imports of Russian fossil fuels without a fixed date, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. However, the views of countries differ on whether to impose immediate sanctions against Russia in relation to energy supplies. Germany, the largest buyer of Russian oil, has rejected the idea.