EU imports record amount of Russian gas since the new year – POLITICO

17 January 17:26

The EU is buying Russian gas at a record rate in early 2025, spending billions of euros on the Kremlin’s military machine. This is stated in the material of Politico, reports Komersant ukrainskyi.

According to the analytical company Kpler, during the first 15 days of 2025, 27 EU countries imported 837,300 metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia. This is a record high – in the same period last year, it was 760,100 tons.

According to Charles Kosteruss, senior LNG analyst at Kpler, the high consumption is due to cold weather since the second half of December and low wind power production. He noted that 95-96% of the Russian LNG coming to Europe comes from the Yamal plant, and most of the supplies are under long-term contracts.

European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen acknowledged that Russian energy is still present in the EU, and gas imports from Russia increased in 2024. The Commission plans to present a roadmap for ending Russian energy imports in late February.

Ten EU countries are calling for sanctions against Russian LNG, arguing that Russia’s ability to continue the war is closely linked to its energy revenues.

The EU is also under pressure to increase fuel purchases from the United States. President-elect Donald Trump has stated his desire to increase gas exports. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen supported the idea of purchasing more American fuel to replace Russian fuel, noting that American LNG is cheaper and could reduce energy prices in the EU.

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Europe and gas

As of early 2022, the EU was 40% dependent on Russian gas. In 2021, 65% of the gas purchased by Germany was Russian. In the third quarter of 2023, only 12% of the gas imported by the EU remained Russian.

On January 1, 2025, due to the expiration of the contract, Ukraine stopped transiting Russian gas. At the same time, some EU countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, remain dependent on it. These countries’ contracts with Gazprom provide for gas supplies through the Ukrainian gas transportation system. Austria has signed a contract for gas supplies until 2040, but it has already declared that it has become independent of Russian fuel.

Slovakia and Hungary insist on extending the agreement. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico even threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine and reduce support for refugees if Kyiv did not give in.

With both Nord Stream and the Ukrainian gas transportation system out of commission, Russia will be able to supply gas to Europe only through the Turkish Stream.

According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the European Union has purchased 212 billion euros worth of energy from Russia.

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Остафійчук Ярослав
Editor