The European Union's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) have reached a record high in 2023, defying efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine. Despite the EU's 2027 target to eliminate Russian fossil fuel imports, shipments of LNG have surged.
Russian liquefied natural gas imports to the EU have reached a record high this year despite the bloc’s attempt to cut off dependence on gas from the country following Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine. Europe imported a record 16.5 million tonnes of Russian LNG as of mid-December, above last year’s imports of 15.18 million tonnes, according to commodities data provider Kpler. The amount is also higher than the last record of 15.21 million tonnes imported in 2022.
'What we have seen this year is surprising,' said Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. 'Instead of gradually reducing Russian LNG imports, we are increasing them.' Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU set a target of stopping imports of any Russian fossil fuels by 2027, but shipments of the super-chilled gas arriving in European ports have continued to rise. Unlike gas imports via pipelines which have dwindled to a trickle, and Russian oil and coal, which are banned in the EU, imports of Russian LNG are still allowed and growing, in a sign of how a 'panicking' Europe is still struggling to wean itself off cheaper supplies, said Jaller-Makarewicz. Analysts have pointed to an increased purchase of Russian LNG on the spot market this year — 33 percent of the EU’s imports of LNG of Russian origin have been done under spot contracts this year, compared with 23 percent last year, said Rystad Energy, an energy consultancy. Companies such as Shell and Equinor have announced they are not purchasing Russian LNG on the spot market. Other traders have said that since the invasion, there are often clauses in contracts for spot cargoes that ensure the LNG 'is not of Russian origin'. However, spot trades this year have increased as traders 'can get cargoes delivered cheaper ', said Christoph Halser, gas analyst at Rystad
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