On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed global financial leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, calling for an end to European reliance on Russian energy, remarking on US President Donald Trump’s plan to increase American oil exports, and encouraging more cooperation from around the world to weaken Russia’s war footing as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark.
With the notable exceptions of Slovakia, Hungary, and the breakaway Moldovan republic of Transnistria, European countries have signaled recently that they are willing and able to find other energy sources after the flow of Russian natural gas transiting through Ukraine came to a halt at the beginning of this year.
“We need to make sure no European country has to depend on a single energy supply, especially not Russia,” Zelensky said in a reference to Europe’s historical reliance on Moscow for the majority of its home heating, industrial power and electricity in general.
“Right now, things are on our side,” he continued. “President Trump is going to export more energy. But Europe needs to step up, and do more long-term work to secure real energy independence.”
“You can’t keep buying gas from Moscow while also expecting security guarantees and help from the Americans,” Zelensky said. “That’s just wrong.”
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In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump promised to vastly increase America’s oil production, proclaiming “Drill, baby, drill” to thundering applause from conservative followers gathered in the Capitol and the satellite viewing venues. While former president Joe Biden actually increased US oil production during his administration, he also at the eleventh hour banned new well-drilling from thousands of off-shore acres just before Trump took office.
The incoming president declared a national energy emergency on the first day of his new presidency, and swore he would “unleash” US energy production, indeed rolling back new restrictions on drilling in Alaska.
Trump in his address promised to make America the world’s “largest oil exporter.” While America has been the world’s largest producer of oil for some time, for the past couple of decades, Saudi Arabia has been far and away the globe’s largest net exporter of oil.
According to CEIC economic data, Saudi Arabia exported 7.36 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2022, followed by Russia with a same-year estimate of 4.78 million barrels per day, then Iraq with 3.7 million and then the US with 3.6 million. While it is hard to estimate Russia’s 2024 export levels given Western sanctions on those shipments and Moscow’s efforts to evade such restrictions using its “shadow fleet” of tankers, Russia has undoubtedly dropped in those ranks over the past year or so due to Europe’s search for alternative sources, and others have likely gained.
Zelensky meets with non-EU members at Davos to promote his plan for peace
In Switzerland on Monday, the Ukrainian president also met with the president of Argentina Javier Milei, Zelensky posted to Telegram, discussing joint efforts to effect a just and lasting peace with Russia.
“I had a good meeting with the President of Argentina, Javier Milei. Thank you for your continued support for Ukraine. We talked about coordinating our efforts with partners to bring about a just and lasting peace. We greatly value Argentina’s full understanding and willingness to help,” Zelensky posted.
Zelensky also met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, to discuss both countries’ aspirations of EU integration.
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