EU devouring Russian gas at record speed despite cutoff

 

EU devouring Russian gas at record speed despite cutoff

 

Pressure to impose sanctions, a raging war and a looming Trump presidency have not quenched the bloc’s thirst for Russian gas.

 

January 16, 2025 4:03 pm CET

By Gabriel Gavin and Giovanna Coi

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-devouring-russian-gas-at-record-speed-despite-cut-off-sanctions-war-ukraine/

 

Europe is buying Russian gas at an unprecedented rate in 2025, spending billions of dollars the Kremlin can use to fund its war in Ukraine just weeks after the end of a major transit agreement raised hopes the continent may break its dependency on Moscow.

 

Data collected by commodities intelligence firm Kpler and analyzed by POLITICO reveals that in the first 15 days of 2025, the European Union's 27 countries imported 837,300 metric tons of liquefied natural gas from Russia.

 

That marks a record high, up from the 760,100 tons brought in during the same period last year, fueling concerns that Western nations aren't doing enough to squeeze Russian funds as Moscow's war enters its fourth year.

 

What's going on?

The numbers come after a landmark agreement allowing Russia to pump gas to the EU via pipelines running across Ukraine ended Jan. 1, with Kyiv saying it would not negotiate an extension. That's put more pressure on countries to buy seaborne LNG, delivered by tanker from Russian ports.

 

A handful of countries, including Slovakia and Hungary, were dependent on the Ukraine route for energy supplies and had been pushing for the deal to be renewed, warning they would have to shell out for more expensive LNG if it came to an end. Kremlin-friendly Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has even vowed to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine and slash support for refugees if Kyiv doesn't back down and allow transit to resume.

 

But the cutoff hasn't curbed Europe's broader Russian gas appetite. There is a perfect storm of factors to explain this, according to Charles Costerousse, a senior LNG analyst at Kpler.

 

"There's been a cold spell since the second half of December; wind power generation hasn't been at its highest level," he said. "So there is an appetite to keep these volumes flowing in."

 

He added that 95 to 96 percent of the Russian LNG arriving in Europe comes from the Yamal plant, a vast facility in frosty northern Siberia.

 

"The majority of those volumes are long-term contracts," he said. "So it's not like the EU is buying additional spot cargoes, it's these contracted volumes coming in."

 

Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said that efforts to squeeze out Moscow's share of coal, oil and gas imports have already "broken Russia’s grip on Europe’s energy system."

 

"However, despite these significant results, Russian energy — particularly gas — is still present in the EU, and gas imports from Russia have increased in 2024, including LNG imports. This gives rise to serious concerns," she acknowledged, pointing to the Commission's plans to produce a "roadmap" to end Russian energy imports, which is expected in late February.

 

Separately, 10 EU countries are calling on the bloc to sanction Russian LNG, which has been bought in vast quantities after Moscow began shutting off pipeline deliveries in an attempt to weaponize fossil fuel flows following the start of its full-scale war on Ukraine.

 

“Russia’s ability to sustain its war efforts is deeply intertwined with its energy revenues,” the countries said in a leaked proposal. “We need to take a further leap and address the increasing Russian liquefied natural gas imports. As an end goal, it is necessary to ban the import of Russian gas and LNG at the earliest date possible.”

 

The EU is also under pressure to buy more fuel from the United States, with incoming President Donald Trump declaring that he wants to "drill, baby, drill" and boost gas exports.

 

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already backed the idea of buying more U.S. fuel to eradicate its Russian alternative.

 

“Why not replace it by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices?" she said in November. "It’s something where we can get into a discussion, also [where] our trade deficit is concerned.”