Europe's largest economy is heavily dependent upon Russia for energy, and nations banks echoed concerns over possible energy disruption expressed by big names in industry in recent days.

Владимир Путин подписал Указ «О специальном порядке исполнения иностранными покупателями обязательств перед российскими поставщиками природного газа».

"The change in the procedure for settlements is introduced due to the fact that, in violation of international law, the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia were frozen by the EU member states," the Kremlin said.

Russian gas deliveries to Europe on three key pipeline routes were broadly steady on Wednesday morning

In the global market, 70% of LNG is exported under long-term contracts. Therefore, the remaining 30% is sold to the country with the highest bid in the spot market.

Croatia and Slovenia have decided to strengthen their energy cooperation, especially in the field of gas and nuclear power.

The sanctions against Russia are the hardest we have seen against any country to date and in particular the decision to freeze $600bn of Russian foreign reserves is a first, which will have huge consequences in the long-term.

The dependence on Russian natural gas in Germany is so great that if supplies from Russia were to be stopped and the remaining quantities of natural gas distributed to Europe, Germany would have to reduce its natural gas consumption in the heating gas sector or in the industrial sector by 100 TWh per year .

Russian gas deliveries to Europe on three main pipeline routes were stable on Monday morning, with the Yamal-Europe pipeline continuing to flow eastwards from Germany into Poland.

Following a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, President Joe Biden announced a new task force between the US and EU with a "joint game plan" to quickly reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas

Berlin said it will bring down gas usage in power generation by "possibly keeping coal-fired power plants as a security standby for longer."

"The only commodity that can help solve the energy crisis in Europe in the short term is coal," said Sveinung Stohle, deputy CEO of Greek-based shipping company Angelicoussis Group. "Like it or not, coal will play a very important role."

Gas prices surged 10%, with ICE Brent futures rising to $1,359/1,000 cu m, up from $1,240/1,000 cu m following Putin's remarks

Speaking to the Bundestag parliament, Scholz said German will continue to look to reduce its dependency on Russian oil and gas but warned "hasty" action could trigger a recession.

The German energy regulator Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA) has launched a tender for the development of 1,320 MW of onshore wind capacity.