The energy policy chief of the EU said on Monday that it plans to start buying gas before winter, as it seeks to reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels and build a buffer against further energy supply shocks.
The EU's executive arm proposed a plan for how the bloc could stop Russian fossil fuels by 2027, by speeding up investments in renewable energy and energy savings and switching to non-Russian fossil fuels.
Russia supplies 40% of EU gas, but it has cut off supply to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland after they refused to pay for fuel in roubles.
In an interview with Reuters, Kadri Simson said that the bloc intended to start buying gas this year, as a result of an EU platform launched last month that would pool countries demand and coordinate use of infrastructure to import non-Russian supplies.
Joint buying will be voluntary for countries. Analysts said the scheme could struggle to secure significant volumes from the tightly supplied global market or launch quickly because of the complexity of coordinating between companies, governments and Brussels to make the purchases.
Simson said that the EU countries could gain access to supply that wouldn't otherwise be available by acting together.
There are limited gas volumes available in the global market for this year. She said that some of them are only coming to the market because of the political decisions and the United States' deal from March for an extra 15 billion cubic meters bcm of natural gas to Europe this year.
Each year the EU imports 155 bcm of gas from Russia.
It is expected that gas demand will drop 30% by 2030 under the EU's climate change targets, and that countries should use renewables and energy savings to replace those volumes.
Europe is reliant on fossil fuels in the short term. The EU agreed last week on a law that requires countries to fill gas storage 80% ahead of winter to provide a buffer against fossil fuel supply shocks.