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According to US officials, the US is in talks with major natural gas producers in response to a possible cut by Russia over sanctions that would take effect in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.
A senior US administration official, Joe Biden, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States was engaging its European allies to “coordinate our response plan, including talking to them about how they position their existing reserves.” energy, which this year are undoubtedly at very low levels due to the reduction of Russian supplies in recent months.
The official said the US is also working to identify additional volumes of natural gas not from Russia but from other different areas of the world, respectively from North Africa and the Middle East to Asia and the US.
“Respectively, we are only in discussions with the leading natural gas producers around the globe, to understand their capacity and willingness to temporarily increase natural gas production and to distribute these volumes to European buyers. “Russia normally supplies Europe with about 40 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas a year through Ukraine.”
The US is working with its allies and partners in Europe to prepare a series of tough economic measures to impose on Russia if it invades Ukraine.
“And to reiterate, we are prepared to implement sanctions with massive consequences that were not taken into account in 2014. This means that the gradualization of the past is over,” said the official.
Tensions in Ukraine have risen in recent months as the Kremlin rallied tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border, a rise the West says is preparing for war. NATO and the European Union (EU) have warned of dire economic consequences if Russia invades its neighbor.
Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade, stressing that its troops are there for training, but in 2014 it annexed the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine in 2014./AA/
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