- The EU purchased nearly half of all Russian liquefied natural gas exports in February 2024, with China a distant second.
- The fact that neither pipeline gas nor LNG imports from Russia are banned, two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, shows the EU’s uneasiness to lose any gas supply.
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The European Union has replaced addiction to one form of Russian gas with another. Instead of receiving pipeline gas from Russia from the east, Europe is now using Russian LNG imported in its ports in the west.
The EU, which hasn’t sanctioned or banned Russian natural gas, has seen its imports of Russia’s LNG jump since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the significant reduction of Russian pipeline flows in 2022.
While LNG volumes are not as much as the pre-war flows of Russian pipeline gas to Europe, the bloc is the largest buyer of Russia’s LNG. The EU purchased nearly half of all Russian liquefied natural gas exports in February 2024, with China a distant second, buying 21% of total Russian LNG exports, showed the latest data on Russia’s fossil fuel exports compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
More than a tenth of the previous Russian pipeline flows to the EU have been replaced by Russian LNG imported into ports in Western Europe, mostly in Spain, Belgium, and France, according to a Reuters analysis of data.
The shift in Russian gas flows shows that while pipeline supply has slowed to a trickle – and could fall further with the end of a gas transit deal via Ukraine at end-2024 – LNG from Russia is making up at least a portion of Moscow’s lost pipeline exports. It also shows that right now, Europe cannot afford to ditch Russian gas, at least not until it can ensure its energy and gas supply security to avoid another energy crisis.
The fact that neither pipeline gas nor LNG imports from Russia are banned, two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, shows the EU’s uneasiness to lose any gas supply as it is careful to avoid a spike in prices and a repeat of the 2022 energy crisis.
The EU has an indicative non-binding goal to ditch Russian gas by 2027.
