Junior minister: Austria looks to renewables and African gas to reduce US LNG dependency

Minister says energy security and US dependence are top concerns

Austria diversifies via African gas and renewables

OECD energy ministers meet in Paris for a biennial meeting

By America Hernandez

PARIS, February 18 - Austria wants to increase renewable energy and import more?gas from Africa in order to avoid becoming too dependent on U.S. Liquefied Natural?Gas? as Europe changes its energy supply.

As a result of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European countries struggle to maintain affordable electricity prices. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has many governments concerned about replacing one dependence with another.

"The U.S. cannot be predicted in these times. So for Austria, we are looking very closely to make sure we have LNG coming from different sources," Elisabeth Zehetner said, Austria's State Secretary for Energy.

Zehetner was a minister from 38 OECD nations who met in Paris for an International Energy Agency meeting to discuss energy security.

Living with Dependencies

"Since?last year's beginning, we have not imported any Russian gas. But we are now facing the same issue with LNG. If more than 40% of Europe’s LNG imports come from the U.S. alone, then we must ask ourselves whether we haven't traded one dependence for another.

U.S. Energy Sec. Chris?Wright criticised on Tuesday the IEA’s focus on renewables, climate policy and urged Europe to buy more U.S. LNG for what he claimed would be low price.

Zehetner noted that most ministers in the first session on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment towards expanding renewable energy because it is domestic and cost-effective to produce, but also pointed out that natural gas was essential to a stable supply.

"Domestic production is more reliable than any type of imports... but we know we will still depend on gas for many years to come." Zehetner asked, "How do we cope with this dependence?"

She said Austria hopes to increase its gas imports via the Transmed pipeline, which lands in Italy. Austria imports gas from Norway, America and Qatar.

Zehetner responded that Austria would prefer to purchase renewable energy from Ukraine, but added that, if a peace agreement was reached which Kyiv could accept, then some Russian gas might be considered again.

She said, "We have learned from our mistakes and we don't want to depend on anyone."

Later on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the state secretary stated that Austria was not interested in resuming Russian gas imports and that it complied to EU rules regarding the phase-out of Russian imports.

The spokesperson stated that "in a hypothetical scenario after the war -- if a peace accord is accepted by Kyiv - Europe could reassess its overall geopolitical framework and energy structure." Reporting by America Hernandez, Paris; Editing and proofreading by Mark Potter

(source: Reuters)