European Union countries have increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia\u2019s Yamal LNG project in Siberia in the first quarter, amid reduced global supply caused by the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n
According to data from energy analytics firm Kpler, imports rose by 17% to 5 million tonnes compared to the same period in 2025. Environmental organization Urgewald estimates that this may have cost EU countries around \u20ac2.88 billion.<\/p>\n
Overall, EU countries received 69 out of 71 cargoes (97%) of LNG from Yamal LNG in the first quarter. Of these, 25 cargoes arrived in March\u2014more than in January and February combined. In comparison, in the first quarter of 2025, the EU received 87% of 68 cargoes from the project, with the remainder directed to Asia.<\/p>\n
The report notes that reduced deliveries to Asia this year are partly due to an EU ban introduced last year, which restricts the transshipment of Russian LNG between vessels, as well as measures prohibiting such ships from entering EU ports for onward transit.<\/p>\n
Despite this, the 5 million tonnes of gas delivered to Europe in the first three months indicate that \u201cEuropean buyers do not intend to stop purchasing Russian LNG,\u201d said Urgewald activist Sebastian Retters. According to Kpler, 1.8 million tonnes of this volume were delivered in March alone.<\/p>\n
The increase in EU spending on Russian gas is explained by rising energy prices: in March, the average gas price was about \u20ac52.87 per MWh, compared to around \u20ac35 in January\u2013February.<\/p>\n
In 2026, more than two-thirds of imported LNG comes from the United States, marking the highest level of dependence on American supplies.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, gas storage levels in the EU remain below average ahead of the summer injection season.<\/p>\n
European Commissioner for Energy Dan J\u00f8rgensen previously stated that a future ban on Russian LNG should reduce the EU\u2019s energy dependence and avoid repeating past mistakes, when the bloc was largely reliant on Russian pipeline supplies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":151455,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-151454","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/151454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=151454"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=151454"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=151454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}