Europe buys Russia’s entire share of Yamal LNG exports in February

Europe bought every single shipment of LNG produced by Russia’s Yamal LNG plant in February -- first time since April 2018 that the EU accounted for 100% of exports from the Arctic facility.

A total of 21 cargoes from Yamal were delivered to European buyers during the month, according to shipping data. Despite a plan to ban imports of Russian gas completely by January 1, 2027, the EU remains hooked on Russian gas.

Demand was driven up by the big freeze this winter and drawdowns from the EU storage tanks were particularly heavy. As the heating season ends, European tanks are only 30% and a gas crisis has already started as the EU will struggle to refill its tanks by the start of this year’s heating season. Now the outbreak of war in the Middle East has taken Qatari gas off the market and that crisis is expected to deepen rapidly.

Europe imported a record 142bn cubic metres of liquefied natural gas in 2025, marking a 28% increase from the previous year as the continent continued reducing dependence on Russian pipeline gas.

The contradicting between Brussel’s rhetoric and the purchase orders, highlights the bind that Europe finds itself in. Desperate to support Ukraine and increase the pressure on Russia, and the need to power industry with affordable energy, Brussels has chosen principle over profit with the result of creating a boomerang effect where the sanctions are now doing more damage to Europe than to Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has capitalised on Europe's growing energy problems and has turned the tables on Europe, promising to ban the export of gas to the EU before the EU can ban imports from Russia that will only make the energy crisis worse.

Without the Qatari gas, Europe will find itself in increasing competition with Asia for the limited supplies of US LNG and prices on the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Virtual Trading Point in the Netherlands have already doubled since the start of Operation Epic Fury.

Yamal LNG, located in northern Siberia, has a production capacity of around 16.5mn tonnes per year and remains a key supplier to global markets. While the EU has sought to reduce pipeline gas imports from Russia, LNG imports have proven more difficult to curb, thanks to an exemption on imports granted to Hungary and Slovakia.