Despite the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, the European Union is importing significantly larger quantities of Russian liquefied natural gas than before the attack. It’s about record amounts of LNG.
Russian gas continues to enter the European Union. However, not via pipelines in gaseous form, but as liquefied LNG, which is usually transported via special tankers.
According to the non-governmental organization Global Witness, the amount of LNG imported by EU countries actually increased in the first seven months of the year. According to this, EU countries imported a total of 22 million cubic meters of LNG from Russia from January to July, an increase of 40 percent compared to the same period in 2021 – i.e. before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Gas for five billion euros
According to projections by Global Witness, EU countries will invest around 5.3 billion euros in Russian LNG in the current year. The information is based on price information from the Finnish Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). It would be record amounts
Around 52 percent of Russia’s LNG exports were imported into the EU in the first seven months, compared to 49 percent of exports last year and 39 percent in 2021.
Ineffective appeal by the EU Commission
The import of LNG is not covered by the EU sanctions, which were imposed after Russia’s war against Ukraine and expanded several times. The EU Commission is committed to stopping the purchases; as early as March, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson called on the member states to stop imports from Russia. But this has not changed anything about imports so far.
“It is shocking to see that many EU countries have become independent of Russian gas via pipelines, only to then replace it with LNG via tanker,” quoted the “Financial Times” as Global-Witness expert Jonathan Noronah-Gant. Furthermore, European companies would transfer billions to Vladimir Putin’s war chest.
Spain, Belgium and France import the most
According to the data, the largest importers of Russian gas within the EU are Spain, which bought 7.5 million cubic meters of LNG from Russia from January to July. That is 18 percent of all Russian LNG exports. Only China bought more, namely 20 percent of exports during the period.
Belgium, with 7.1 million cubic meters, and France with 4.5 million cubic meters of LNG are also major buyers in the EU. With the LNG terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium has one of the few ports that can handle Ice-class tankers that operate in the far north.
Russian gas will end in 2027 at the earliest
The EU Commission has set itself the goal that the community will no longer purchase any Russian gas by 2027, either by LNG tanker or by pipeline. At present, however, with a 16 percent share, Russia is still the second largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to the Community, after the USA and ahead of Qatar, Nigeria and Algeria. Until then, many countries, including Austria, will also be contractually bound to Russian gas supplies.