EU continues to reduce its dependence on Russian gas - European energy commissioner

BRUSSELS. June 20 (Interfax) - The meeting of the European Union Energy Council held in Luxembourg on Monday offered an opportunity to review the EU's winter preparedness and the security of power supplies, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said.

Simson said at a press conference after the council's meeting that the implementation of the REPowerEU program to ensure the EU's energy independence is in progress and "the reduction in Russian gas supplies continues."

"The LNG market continues to fill most of the shortfall left by the drop in pipeline flows from Russia. Russian LNG imports remain limited, and over time there will be more space to further reduce them," she said.

Simson welcomed "the initiatives taken by the different governments to call on their companies not to sign any new Russian LNG contract."

Simson also briefed EU countries' energy ministers on the results of the first tender as part of the AggregateEU joint gas purchases instrument, which attracted offers for 11.6 billion cubic meters across European delivery points.

The commissioner also positively assessed the EU's coordinated measures to reduce gas demand.

"We have saved us 53 billion cubic meters between August last year and March this year. Under the Swedish presidency [in the Council of the EU] we very swiftly prolonged the gas demand reduction target until March 2024. This could help save us additional 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas," she said.

The current gas storage level in the EU is historically high, standing at 72%, Simson said.

"We are on track to meet the 90% target well before November," she said.

Members of the Council of the EU "have a common assessment that the policies we agreed last year have been essential to these markets to contain gas price volatility," she said.

"We see that markets have shown lately some volatility and this should remind us to stay vigilant, as the global supply-demand balance remains very tight. That's why, once again, speeding up renewables deployment is so vital for Europe's energy security," Simson said.