RIYADH: Russian companies should not start “concreting over their oil-wells” according to Vladimir Putin as he predicted the West will rely on energy from his country for many years.
As the EU currently imports around 40 percent of its gas from Russia, the bloc has pledged to reduce its dependency on Russian oil by 90 percent by the end of 2022.
The bloc has not made any commitments on gas.
According to the BBC, the Russian president made the statement after attending an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the birth of Russian monarch Peter the Great, who fought against Sweden.
The Russian President compared this fight to his invasion of Ukraine, claiming that Peter the Great was taking back territory and that “it is our responsibility also to take back and strengthen.”
Despite US reduction of Russian energy products’ supply as a punishment after the Ukraine invasion, rising global oil and gas prices mean that profits of such companies could have risen in recent months.
“The volume of oil is decreasing on the world market, prices are rising,” President Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs, adding that company profits are rising.
Putin's words came after a US official admitted that Russian profits on energy may be higher now than before the invasion of Ukraine, the BBC said.
Asked at a Senate hearing if Russia could be earning more now from fossil fuels than it was before the war, US energy security envoy Amos Hochstein replied: “I can't deny that.”
