Portugal plans to increase purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and Nigeria as it aims to end the dwindling supplies from Russia.

Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho said on Tuesday that Portugal imported 49,141 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of natural gas in 2024, of which around 96 per cent was LNG.

According to the minister, data from electricity and gas grid operator REN shows that Nigeria accounted for 51 per cent of those LNG deliveries, about 40 per cent came from the United States, and around 4.4 per cent from Russia.

In 2021, Russia accounted for 15 per cent of Portugal’s LNG supply.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has implemented targeted sanctions on Russian oil and gas imported through pipelines.

However, it has not prevented the import of LNG transported by ship into Europe.

Ms Graca Carvalho told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to the economic website ECO, that “Portugal is now practically independent of Russian gas, but we want to reduce this figure further by importing more gas from Nigeria and the United States.’’

President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with tariffs if countries do not increase their purchases of U.S. energy.

ECO reported the minister urged greater cooperation within the 27-nation European Union to ensure energy independence and security, saying Iberia was still an “energy island” as it had “been difficult to build interconnections with France.”

(Reuters/NAN)