'EU could quit Russian gas within a year'

The European Union could phase out Russian gas within six to 12 months by replacing it with US liquefied natural gas, and the United States communicated this position to EU officials this week, US energy secretary Chris Wright told Reuters on Friday.

Wright was speaking in Brussels, where he met EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen on Thursday to discuss ending Europe's purchases of Russian energy. The EU is negotiating legal proposals to phase out imports of Russian oil and gas by January 2028, with a ban on short-term contracts kicking in from next year.

"I definitely voiced the opinion we could do it faster. On the US side, we could do it faster, and I think it would be good if those dates were moved up even more. I don't know that that's going to happen, but that was dialogued," he said, referring to his meeting with Jorgensen.

Jorgensen said on Thursday it was unacceptable the EU continued to import Russian energy - but that the 2028 phase out was ambitious.