While European imports of Russian pipeline gas have declined by more than 80 percent, shipments of Russian LNG (liquefied natural gas) to Europe have ballooned by 50 percent during the first 9 months of 2022, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg since 2016.

LNG exports from Russia rose 1.1% year on year in October to the highest level since March. That is in stark contrast to plummeting pipeline flows to Europe following the deterioration of relations between the West and the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine in February.

The imports of Russian LNG are part of a sustained push by the EU to replace Russian pipeline gas with gas in the form of LNG.

While the EU now receives a large number of shipments from the US and Qatar, deliveries from Russia, including from Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in the Arctic, run counter to the overall narrative that the EU is reducing all forms of energy imports from and associated payments to Russia.

“It is certainly a concern that Russian LNG sales are growing, including to Spain and Belgium and other countries that have been fully engaged in NATO and EU efforts to sanction Russia and put pressure on it to stop its aggression in Ukraine,” explains Kristine Berzina, senior fellow for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF).

source bloomberg.com