THE WORLD must look for alternative suppliers of oil and gas as Russia is no longer a “reliable partner”.

Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte agreed that there had to be a shift away from Russian supplies during a joint press conference this afternoon.

The Prime Minister, and his Canadian and Dutch counterparts, held bilateral and trilateral talks in Downing Street where they agreed on forming a ‘humanitarian coalition’ to help those fleeing Ukraine.

Mr Johnson did not rule out a ban on imports of Russian oil, following comments from US secretary of state Antony Blinken yesterday, but said such measures had to be taken "step by step". 

Mr Johnson said: “I don’t think Tony Blinken was wrong in the sense that we are all together now moving very, very fast and seeing that something that, perhaps three or four weeks ago, we would never have considered, is now very much on the table.

“We have to consider how we can all move away as fast as possible from dependence, reliance, on Russian hydrocarbons, Russian oil and gas.

“Everybody is doing that, everybody is on the same journey. Some countries will find it faster and easier than others, that’s all.

“But we’re going to do it together and we are going to work together on making sure that we all have the substitutes and the supplies that we need.”

Mr Johnson said he believed that there should be more of a focus on nuclear and renewable energy, adding: “There is a crunch on at the moment and we need to intensify our self-reliance as a transition from hydrocarbons.

“But what we also need to do is go for more nuclear and a much more use of renewable energy .”

Mr Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, added: “ I think what is clear is that many countries have realised that continued reliance on Russia's oil and gas is a problem for the future.

“What we're seeing is a shift in Europe and elsewhere, to understand that Russia is no longer a reliable partner.

“What Vladimir Putin has broken here is a trust, where a number of Europeans reflect 'It's too bad that we are so dependent on Russian oil that we're not going to make that mistake again' and they are moving away from it.”

Meanwhile in the House of Lords, former Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth called for the re-introduction of fracking, which was dropped in the UK due to environmental fears.

The Tory peer said: “We have a duty to put the maximum pressure on President Putin at this time when the situation in Ukraine is beyond grim."

He added: "Should we not therefore be developing our own resources in the North Sea, our own resources through fracking, our own resources through nuclear power in order to guarantee security of supply?”

Energy Minister Lord Callanan said that there should be more investment in the North Sea and renewables but said fracking “does not offer the silver bullet” to solving the problem.

Nicola Sturgeon earlier reiterated her opposition to new oil fields in the North Sea, saying the focus should be on accelerating a “green transition”.