A ship enters the industrial port of Lubmin, Germany, during the commissioning of the LNG Terminal Deutsche Ostsee on 14 January 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/NORBRT FELLECHNER / POOL
Europe imported “record levels” of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia last year despite sanctions on Moscow and continent-wide efforts by European governments to reduce their reliance on Russian energy, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
According to data provided by independent consultants Rystad Energy, a total of 17.8 million tonnes of Russian LNG docked in European ports in 2024, 2 million tonnes more than in 2023.
The report follows Ukraine’s decision to end the transit of Russia’s natural gas exports to Europe via pipelines across its territory after a five-year transit deal between the two countries expired on 1 January.
While the amount of Russian pipeline gas pumped to Europe dropped off significantly following the invasion of Ukraine, the shortfall was made up by importing LNG from a number of countries, including Russia, which last year overtook Qatar as Europe’s second biggest supplier of LNG, Rystad Energy calculated.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Russia planned to grow its share of the global LNG market after Kyiv closed its gas pipelines to Russian transit, namely by selling more LNG to European states, while routing pipeline gas to China.
Europe would likely “end up buying more Russian LNG to make up for the drop in natural gas imports from Russia,” economist Tatyana Orlova told Bloomberg, noting that so far Europe’s efforts to wean itself off Russian gas completely had been unsuccessful.
While in June 2024, the EU adopted a sanctions package prohibiting the transshipment of Russian LNG through EU ports to non-EU countries, Russian LNG deliveries to Europe themselves continue to be allowed, an oversight that experts at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies estimate could even lead to an increase in the amount of Russian LNG being stored in European ports.
The EU’s failure to address the issue has come in for fierce criticism from Ukrainian activists. “A full ban on Russian LNG imports is urgently needed to stop funding Putin’s war chest,” Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko told The Guardian.
