Photo: Gastrade

The European Union, under pressure from the United States, is considering accelerating a complete ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas. A corresponding provision will be proposed in the new, 19th package of sanctions against Russia, Reuters and Bloomberg .

reported on Friday

The EU is currently considering an initiative to completely cut off Russian oil and gas as part of a break in energy relations with Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The current proposal under the RePowerEU plan envisages cutting off Russian gas by the end of 2027, but if EU countries agree to sanctions, new restrictions could come into effect much sooner.

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The problem is that the inclusion of LNG obligations in the EU sanctions package would require unanimous support from all member states. For the current proposal in RePowerEU, a qualified majority is enough.

The European Union has significantly reduced gas imports from Russia since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, but supplies through the Turkish Stream pipeline and in liquefied form on tankers still account for a significant portion - almost 19% of total EU imports in 2024.

Spain, Belgium and France are among the largest importers of Russian liquefied natural gas.

The United States is ready to replace Russian liquefied natural gas and has repeatedly expressed interest in increasing supplies to Europe.