Dutch have cut bulk of Russian energy imports a year after Ukraine invasion

AMSTERDAM, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Nearly a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands has virtually halted imports of natural gas, coal, oil and petroleum products from Moscow, the Dutch energy minister said on Friday. The Netherlands, which imported 16 billion euros' ($17.18 billion) worth of energy from Russian in 2021, is still working to cut off the last of the shipped liquefied natural gas (LNG) it receives from Russia, the government said in a statement. The Dutch move is in line with wider European Union and international sanctions which have severely reduced Russian state income. "We set ourselves the objective of curbing energy imports from Russia to the greatest extent possible, as quickly as possible, in order to stop contributing to Russia’s war chest," said Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Policy Rob Jetten. "That’s because more than 60% of Russia’s government revenues were derived from exports of fossil fuels." Sanctions imposed on Russia since the invasion include outright bans on purchases of Russian energy by the United States and the EU, as well as bans on the shipping of Russian crude anywhere in the world unless it is sold at or below $60 per barrel. With new sanctions targeting Russian petroleum products having gone into effect, "this means that virtually no Russian petroleum products, crude oil or coal are now entering the Netherlands", the statement said. Before the invasion, Russian gas accounted for 25% of Dutch imports. The percentage of LNG imported by the Netherlands from Russia has been halved, from 30% in 2021 to 15% currently. Europe as a whole has also cut Russian gas imports from
around 45% to 10%, the ministry said. ($1 = 0.9312 euros) (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Jan Harvey)