Britain is pushing EU leaders to back a new energy security plan to wean Europe off Russian energy over the next 25 years by ramping up imports from new sources, including shale gas from the US and natural gas from Iraq.
The proposal, distributed to European capitals before a summit in Brussels beginning today, also calls for speeding up development of a pipeline route through Azerbaijan and Turkey that would bring gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea, avoiding Russian territory.
“Crises in Ukraine in 2006, 2009 and more recently have repeatedly illustrated the need to ensure Europe is not overreliant on a limited number of sources of energy or vulnerable to external pressure,” reads the paper, referring to the stand-off with Russia and previous crises where state-owned Gazprom cut off supplies to Ukrainian pipelines over pricing and unpaid debts.