Portugal plans to increase its purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and Nigeria in order to completely cut supplies from Russia, Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports, according to Agerpres.
Last year, Portugal imported 49,141 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of natural gas, of which about 96% was LNG, data from grid operator REN shows.
Nigeria accounted for 51% of LNG deliveries, about 40% came from the US and about 4.4% from Russia.
In 2021, Russia was responsible for 15% of Portugal’s LNG supplies.
“Now Portugal is practically independent of Russian gas … but we want to further reduce imports by increasing purchases from the United States and Nigeria,” Graca Carvalho told the Davos Forum.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on the European Union if countries do not increase purchases of American oil and gas.
Currently, Nigeria has by far the largest gas reserves at 203 trillion ft3, which makes up 33% of the 2021 estimate of Africa’s total gas reserves.
