UK looking to other countries for gas supply amid Russia spy row – PM

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday the UK was “looking to other countries” for gas supply due to deteriorating relations with Russia triggered by the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the UK, Platts reports.

May was asked in the UK Parliament Wednesday by Conservative lawmaker Stephen Crabb whether she agreed that the UK “should not provide a market for Russian gas. She said: “Can I reassure [you] that when we are looking at our gas supplies, we are looking to other countries.”

Crabb also suggested that if the UK needed additional LNG imports it should instead look to “allies such as Qatar, Malaysia and Australia who are more than willing to sell it to us.” The UK is less dependent than much of Europe on direct Russian gas supplies, but it does buy gas from Gazprom Export and Gazprom’s UK-based trading arm Gazprom Marketing & Trading.