Portugal intends to boost its acquisitions of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and Nigeria, as it seeks to end its declining supplies from Russia, stated Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho on Tuesday.
In 2024, Portugal imported 49,141 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of natural gas, with approximately 96% of this volume being LNG, according to data from the electricity and gas grids operator REN.
Nigeria represented 51% of the LNG deliveries, with approximately 40% sourced from the United States and around 4.4% from Russia.
In 2021, Russia provided 15% of Portugal’s LNG supply but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union enacted targeted sanctions on Russian oil and gas imported via pipelines, but this has not stopped the import of LNG transported by ship into Europe.
“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,” Graca Carvalho told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to economic website ECO.
US President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with tariffs if countries do not increase their purchases of US 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”.
