Europe is to stop new contracts with suppliers of Russian gas (pipeline and LNG) and existing spot contracts will cease by the end of 2025.
The measures aim to ensure that the EU will slash remaining supplies of Russian gas by a third by the end of this year.
The European Commission announced the changes yesterday as part of broader measures to phase out all imports of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.
Despite sanctions, Russian LNG has continued to flow into Europe.
This year alone, the EU has bought six million tonnes of Russian LNG worth more than €2.5bn, according to data from a think tank called the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
More coordinated actions are therefore needed. The EU’s overdependency on Russian energy imports represents a security threat, according to a European Commission statement.
President Ursula von der Leyen said, “With REPowerEU, we have diversified our energy supply and drastically reduced Europe’s former dependency on Russian fossil fuels. It is now time for Europe to completely cut off its energy ties with an unreliable supplier.”
With the full implementation of the energy transition framework and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy, the EU is expected to replace up to 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas by 2030, which means a decrease in demand by 40 to 50 bcm by 2027.
At the same time, LNG capacities elsewhere are expected to increase by around 200 bcm by 2028, which is five times more than current EU imports of Russian gas.
The Commission will also put forward new actions to address Russia’s shadow fleet transporting oil.
Nuclear proposals, coming next month, will include measures on Russian imports of enriched uranium, as well as restrictions on new supply contracts co-signed by the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) for uranium, enriched uranium and other nuclear materials deriving from Russia.
Europe imported Russian LNG volumes totalling 17.8 million tonnes last year, up two million tonnes year-on-year, which is funding Putin’s war on Ukraine, delegates attending the Davos conference heard in January.
