Shipments of the super-chilled gas reportedly surged after pipeline fuel transit by Ukraine stopped, the outlet studies
The EU’s imports of liquified pure fuel (LNG) from Russia surged at an unprecedented charge within the first two weeks of the yr, Politico reported on Thursday, citing information tracked by commodities information supplier Kpler.
Within the first 15 days of 2025, EU member states reportedly bought 837,300 metric tons of the super-chilled fuel from Russia, marking an all-time excessive, up from the 760,100 tons recorded throughout the identical interval in 2024.
Imports surged shortly after Ukraine refused to increase a five-year transit contract with Russian power large Gazprom on the finish of 2024, chopping off member states like Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, and Moldova from the move of pipeline pure fuel from Russia.
Exports of Russian pipeline fuel considerably diminished within the wake of the Ukrainian battle and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022. Nonetheless, EU member states continued to import file quantities of LNG from the nation, because the chilled gas was solely partially focused by the most recent sanctions launched by the bloc.
In June, the EU focused Russian liquified pure fuel (LNG) for the primary time, banning re-loading operations, ship-to-ship transfers, and ship-to-shore transfers with the aim of re-exporting to 3rd nations through the EU. The sanctions have a nine-month transition interval.
The EU has dedicated itself to eliminating its dependence on Russian power assets, however has continued to buy LNG from the nation. The volumes of the chilled fuel bought by the bloc accounted for 15% of whole imports of the gas as of June 2024, based on information tracked by Kpler.
Within the first half of final yr, Russia was the second-biggest provider of LNG to the European continent after the US, based on information compiled by the Institute of Power Economics and Monetary Evaluation, which famous that the nation’s share amounted to 21%.
Final month, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Moscow was planning to proceed growing its share of the worldwide LNG market, noting that the gas was some of the requested power merchandise on this planet.
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