EU imports of Russian LNG slump 35% in April

The EU’s imports of Russian LNG fell by 35% year on year during the period from April 1-23, dropping from 1.7bn cubic metres to 1.14 bcm, according to data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) published on April 25.

The decline was most pronounced in Spain, where volumes fell from approximately 0.6 bcm to 0.1 bcm. France also saw a reduction, with imports slipping from 0.7 bcm to 0.6 bcm, while Belgium recorded a modest increase from 0.25 bcm to 0.3 bcm.

Two main factors contributed to the decrease: the EU’s ban on the transhipment of Russian LNG, introduced a month ago, and a temporary outage at Russia’s Yamal LNG plant, where one of three production trains appeared to be offline in early April according to satellite imagery before resuming operations, the IEEFA said.

At the same time, shipments of US LNG to Europe continued to rise. In the first quarter, EU member states accounted for 80% of US LNG exports, reflecting weakening demand from China and Europe’s strategic pivot towards US supply.

The European Commission is expected to announce in May its plan to completely end imports of Russian LNG, though the measure is unlikely to take effect before 2027. Meanwhile, the bloc is moving towards this goal in phases, including a discussed ban on spot sales of Russian LNG.

If implemented, such a measure would leave only Russian LNG supplies purchased under long-term offtake agreements, with buyers including France’s TotalEnergies, a shareholder in the Yamal LNG plant, and Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE), formerly the German subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom. 

Russia would respond by delivering more of its Arctic LNG to buyers in Asia including China, where officials have already said they expect an increase in Russian supplies this year, in part to offset a decrease in US shipments following Beijing’s introduction of a tariff on US LNG.