Interfax: Europe can’t easily turn back on Russian energy resources – minister

MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) – It would be difficult for Europe to give up Russian energy resources, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya 24.

He recalled that statements have been made about reducing the dependence on Russia in future. “And such work is being done in the European Union, in the United States. There was a declaration about an increase in LNG supplies from the U.S. All these statements are not backed by anything at present in terms of economics,” Novak said.

It “will be difficult today to give up Russian gas, Russian oil,” he said. “You know that out of the total amount of oil imports, which is about 475 million tonnes by the European Union, 200 million tonnes are supplied from Russia. In other words, the dependence is currently about 40%,” Novak said.

Many European oil refineries were built to use Russian Urals crude, he recalled. “In order to not use Russian oil, it is necessary to make huge investments in order to switch to other oil,” the minister said.

He also said that the market is currently balanced, and any such actions would create a major imbalance on the oil and gas market and the economic consequences could be completely unpredictable for those who are pushing for sanctions.

“Many [European] companies that work on the market are categorically opposed to the imposition of any sanctions,” Novak said.