Financial Post: G-7 pledges to find new energy supplies to counter Russia threat

The Group of Seven nations agreed to find new sources of energy and expand their natural gas infrastructure to prevent Russia from using its oil and gas reserves as a “political weapon,” German Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.

The world’s leading economies will also increase their efforts to save energy and to use renewable power as part of the agreement, Gabriel said at a press briefing in Rome where G-7 energy ministers are meeting today in Rome. The U.K. government is pushing European countries to expand the use of shale gas.

The European Union’s reliance on Russian oil and gas has hampered the global response to President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Russia provides about a third of the EU’s oil and gas needs, mainly via state-controlled OAO Gazprom and OAO Rosneft through pipelines that cross Ukraine.
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