Germany learned a lesson from the war in Ukraine - it should not depend on one country for energy supplies. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this in an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwaite..

Early in Scholz's time in office, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed the fragility of Germany's security, energy became the dominant topic.. With Russia supplying 55% of the country's gas before the war, the Scholz administration was forced to take urgent action to avert fears of gas shortages this winter..

So far, those fears have been allayed as mild temperatures and efforts to reduce gas consumption, including the reopening of mothballed coal-fired power plants, have kept storage facilities about 90% full.. But the long-term challenges of overcoming decades of dependence on Russia remain.

“We have to learn from the war and many other big problems that we are facing, namely: we must differentiate our supply chains, we must not be led by only one country,” Scholz said..

The government's main strategy is to diversify suppliers by opening terminals to import liquefied natural gas from countries such as the US and Qatar.. Two temporary terminals are already working, and the third is due to open on Friday. A total of five such facilities have been chartered by the government.

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Recall that at present gas prices in Europe are lower than pre-war. By the end of December, the cost of gas at the largest European TTF hub in the Netherlands fell to 77 euros per MWh.

For comparison, the maximum gas price in 2022 was recorded at the end of August - almost 350 euros per MWh.

And the minimum figure in 2022 was recorded two days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when the gas price for TTF was just under 80 euros per MWh.