European Commissioner warns against excessive dependence on American gas

European Union Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera has warned against over-reliance on imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States. She stressed the need to diversify the bloc's energy mix. About this reports Bloomberg.

"We know that we cannot rely on Russian gas, and that we should pay attention to not relying too much on American gas," Ribera said in an interview with RTE radio.

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has partially replaced Russian gas with American LNG and is now under pressure to further increase such purchases. Last year, as part of a trade deal with Washington, the EU committed to buying $750 billion in American energy by 2028.

Ribera's comments come amid growing concern in Europe over the US president's stance Donald Trump on Greenland. Despite a promise not to use force, his "framework" agreement with NATO includes the deployment of American missiles and access to mineral resources to deter Chinese interests.

Further developments in the situation also depend on whether the US leader refrains from introducing tariffs against European countries.

Last year, the EU agreed to accelerate the transition away from Russian gas and sever energy ties with a former key supplier, while simultaneously seeking alternative sources and increasing renewable energy with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

According to the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, if contracts for American LNG are fulfilled and demand reduction fails, the share of gas imports from the US could increase to 80% in 2030 compared to 57% in 2025.

"One of the reasons why we need to produce much more of our own energy is that it is not good to be dependent on any country in the world mainly for our energy supply. So we need to be very careful that now that we are moving away from Russian energy, we do not replace this dependence with other dependencies," said EU Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen.

• On January 26, it became known that the Council of the European Union finally approved the phased ban on the import of Russian gas.