Still dependent on Putin: Europe imports record amounts of LNG from Russia

With the increased purchase of gas in the form of LNG by ship, European countries want to replace Russian gas as far as possible. However, one of the big players in the LPG market is Russia. Record LNG deliveries keep Putin a bargaining chip on the Europeans.

Europe is importing more liquid gas from Russia than ever before. While Russian gas shipments via pipelines have fallen to near zero, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by ship in the first nine months of this year increased by almost 40 percent compared to the same period last year. This is reported by the “Financial Times”. 16 percent of the imported LNG for Europe came from Russia.

Overall, European countries increased their LNG imports by 70 percent to 111 billion cubic meters from January to October 2022 in view of the supply disruptions to the Russian pipelines that began last year. According to “FT”, Russia supplied 17.8 billion cubic meters. The main recipient countries of Russian liquid gas were France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

Boosting LNG imports is at the heart of Europe’s attempt to replace the hitherto dominant pipeline gas imports from Russia in the face of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. However, Russia is also one of the major exporters of LNG and is apparently replacing some of the missing pipeline deliveries with its own liquid gas. Natural gas, whether delivered by pipeline or ship, is exempt from EU sanctions against Russia.

While Russia has been completely shutting down its supplies through the Nord Stream 1 and Yamal pipelines for months, Russian gas continues to flow to Europe through Ukraine and the Turkstream pipeline. The Nord Stream Pipelines 1 and 2 have since been destroyed by explosions. Compared to these pipeline deliveries of more than 60 billion cubic meters in the first three quarters of this year, LNG imports from Russia remain low. However, the strong increase shows the difficulties in Europe in freeing itself from dependence on Russian gas.

The presence on the LNG market would give Russian President Vladimir Putin the opportunity to continue using his gas as a weapon and to let the volatile gas prices skyrocket, warns the energy expert Anne-Sophie Corbeau in the “FT”. “One morning Putin could say, ‘We’re stopping LNG deliveries to Europe’ and buy the continent in between on an even more expensive spot market.”