EU energy ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss how to make gas supply more secure as Russia, one of the main suppliers to the bloc, cuts deliveries amid tensions over its invasion of Ukraine.

"Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine we have known that a very serious disruption is possible, and now it seems likely," EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said after the meeting.

"We have done much important work to be prepared for this. But now is the time to step it up," she said, urging countries to update their plans on coping with supply shocks and to turn to other fuels to save gas if that was possible.

Plan for coordination

She said that the European Commission, the bloc's executive power, would present a plan in July that would allow EU countries to coordinate preparations for further disruptions in gas supply, with Russia already stopping or reducing deliveries to 12 of the bloc's 27 member states.

The plan would formulate ways of reducing demand for gas and also single out critical sectors where supply chains could be disrupted by reduction measures.

She also called on national governments to drastically cut their gas use to enable storage to be filled enough to cope with any more supply shocks over the winter.

Simson said Russia's cuts to gas deliveries to Europe aimed to destabilize the bloc's energy market, drive already inflated energy prices even higher and stop gas storage being filled properly before the high-demand winter months.

Russia has denied that it is weaponizing energy supplies.

EU adopts gas storage plan

Also on Monday, the European Council adopted a gas storage regulation aimed at alleviating the energy crunch, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union announced.

The new regulation, first proposed in March, provides that gas storage sites must be filled to at least 80% of their capacity by November 1, and to 90% by the first day of November in subsequent years. It also aims to streamline gas storage by allowing member states without storage facilities to store gas in neighboring countries.

"Having concluded negotiations in less than two months, the EU now has a tool which requires all member states to have adequate gas storage for the winter period and which makes it easier for countries to share," Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France's energy transition minister, said in a statement. 

France holds the rotating presidency of the Council until July 1.

US and EU to cooperate on methane emissions from LNG

US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have meanwhile said that methane emissions linked with liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to the EU from the US will be carefully monitored by both sides.

"Mindful of the environmental impact of LNG production and consumption, the United States and the European Commission will step up their cooperation to reduce methane emissions," the leaders said on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

US LNG sales to the EU will be "aligned with the scope of an internationally accepted measurement, reporting and verification standard for methane emissions," Biden and von der Leyen said

The US and the EU agreed in March on a deal under which Washington pledged to help Brussels receive an extra 15 billion cubic meters (53 billion cubic feet) of LNG this year to reduce the bloc's dependency on Russian gas.

In a statement they also said that the EU would try to install at least 1.5 million "smart" thermostats to help cut gas consumption. Such thermostats are usually connected to WiFi and can control temperature settings for heating and cooling in homes.

Germany warns of potentially 'severe' energy crisis

Ahead of the Luxembourg meeting, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that a potential price cap on Russian energy imports, something the United States has been pushing for, would only be effective with sufficient international support.

Habeck further cautioned that with Russia increasingly turning off European gas supplies, this could lead to a "medium-term" scenario of governments having to severely restrict gas use, leading to a potentially "severe economic crisis" across the bloc.

Many European countries — including Germany, which before the invasion of Ukraine was the largest consumer of Russian gas in the EU — have greatly reduced their reliance on Russian energy sources in the coming months and established alternative supply sources, including reluctant returns to coal power. 

However, economists have warned there are still major gaps in energy supply that need to be filled in order to avoid a recession.

tj,es/wmr (AFP, dpa, Reuters)