EU remains top buyer of Russian Arctic LNG despite 2027 phase-out pledge

Russia’s Yamal LNG project continues to earn billions of euros from the EU, with new data revealing that more than three-quarters of the project’s liquefied natural gas exports in 2025 were delivered to EU terminals, despite the bloc’s commitment to ban the import of Russian LNG by January 1, 2027.

An analysis published on January 8 by environmental NGO Urgewald, based on figures from commodities analytics firm Kpler, shows that 15mn tonnes of LNG from the Yamal terminal deep in Russia’s Arctic regions reached EU ports in 2025 – three quarters (75.4%) more than was exported the previous year and three quarters (76.1%) of Yamal’s total global exports. The trade was worth an estimated €7.2bn ($8.4bn) to the Kremlin.

As IntelliNews Lambda reported, Europe is currently suffering from a cold snap, but despite the increased demand for heating, Europe’s gas storage tanks remain comfortably full (85%), thanks to reduced industrial demand caused by de-industrialisation of heavy industry and robust LNG imports from Russia and the US. From a purely energy security perspective the mix of Russian and US LNG imports is working extremely well, even if the geopolitics of this set up remains uncomfortable.

US LNG imports accounted for 57% of all imports last year, with Russia making up another 14.3%, down from 15.1% the year before that and 20% pre-war. At its pre-war peak Russia used to account for between 35%-40% of Europe’s natural gas imports, most of which was piped.

“While Brussels celebrates the latest agreement to phase out Russian gas, our ports continue serving as the logistics lung for Russia’s largest LNG terminal, Yamal,” said Sebastian Rötters, sanctions campaigner at Urgewald. “We are not just customers; we are the essential infrastructure keeping this flagship project alive.”

The new data shows that despite some progress in reducing LNG imports from Russia, Europe is still heavily dependent on Russian imports of LNG. In a joint statement issued this week, EU heads of state called Arctic stability “critical for international and transatlantic security”.

France emerged as the largest EU importer of Yamal LNG in 2025, with 87 shipments delivering 6.3mn tonnes—41.7% of the EU’s Yamal imports—via the ports of Dunkirk and Montoir. Belgium’s Zeebrugge terminal handled the highest number of individual shipments, receiving 58 vessels and 4.2mn tonnes of LNG, more than the 3.6mn tonnes shipped to China across 51 tankers.

Two European shipping firms, Seapeak (UK) and Dynagas (Greece), provided the majority of transport capacity, operating 11 of the 14 specialised Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers required to navigate Arctic conditions. Together, they accounted for over 70% of the Yamal-to-EU trade in 2025.

The Yamal LNG terminal, operated by privately-owned Novatek and partly owned by France’s TotalEnergies, is uniquely dependent on these Arc7 vessels due to its remote location on the Yamal Peninsula. The ships are needed to maintain year-round exports through thick ice and are typically deployed on short-haul routes to Europe, allowing for more frequent return trips. Alternative options, such as ship-to-ship transfers for onward shipment to Asia, remain limited in capacity and operationally complex.

Urgewald warned that the EU’s logistical role effectively sustains Yamal operations and urged action to close what it calls the “Yamal loophole”. Rötters added, “Every cargo that offloads at an EU terminal is a direct deposit into a war chest that fuels the slaughter in Ukraine.”

He also cautioned that current Arc7 charter agreements could soon expire, leaving the fleet vulnerable to absorption into opaque shipping structures. “The EU and the UK must ensure that the Arc7 fleet does not fall into the wrong hands at the end of the year and then help to keep Yamal alive,” he said.