Portugal’s environment minister João Matos Fernandes, said on Thursday that Portugal has 85% of natural gas reserves, without counting the last ship that arrived in Sines in recent days.
“Regarding natural gas, three or four days ago we had reserves of around 79%, three ships have arrived in the meantime, I don’t have the number of the last ship, but before this one, we had 85% of natural gas reserves,” the minister of the environment and Climate Action said at the Standing Committee of the Portuguese Parliament, where he took part in a debate on the drought that Portugal is facing, along with Agriculture Minister Maria do Céu Antunes.
The minister was responding to questions from Liberal Initiative (IL) MP João Cotrim de Figueiredo on national strategic reserves of fuel and natural gas, given the expected price increase due to the invasion of Ukraine and consequent sanctions on Russia.
“Portugal does indeed have 90-day fuel reserves: petrol, diesel and crude oil. They are stored almost entirely in Portugal. The moment there is a need to use them, the logistics are designed,” Matos Fernandes stressed.
Russia is responsible for over 40% of the EU’s annual natural gas imports.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused a sharp rise in gas prices in the EU and global oil prices, a rise that comes in the context of an already existing peak in energy prices, given the crisis in the sector.
Source: Lusa
