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Germany still dependent on Russian energy

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Germany still dependent on Russian energy
A gas measuring station on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Photo: DPA

New figures released on Monday showed that Germany continues to be heavily dependent on Russia for its fossil fuel supplies as tensions remain high over Ukraine.

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The Fedral Institute of Raw Materials (BGR) in Hannover reported that just two percent of Germany's oil and 12 percent of natural gas were produced within the country in 2013.

Those two fuels together account for 55 percent of German energy consumption, with Russia providing one third of the country's imports.

Germany is only self-sufficient in renewable energy, brown coal and nuclear energy, which together make up less than a third of the country's power consumption.

"In future a further increase in Germany's import dependency for fossil fuels should be expected," the BGR wrote in its report.

They don't expect new techniques such as the controversial fracking process, in which water and chemicals are injected into shale to force out natural gas, to greatly improve the situation.

"Whether production by such methods can succeed at all, and when, is not yet foreseeable," the experts said.

The one ray of sunshine in the BGR report was the fact that Germany's overall bill for fuel imports fell compared with the previous year for the first time in over a decade.

Around €142 billion worth of mineral raw materials was imported in 2013, a drop of five percent compared with 2012. Fuel made up the lion's share of imports at around 70 percent.

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