EU reneges on pledge, relies on Russia for gas

Despite repeated pledges to wean itself off Russian energy and speed up its green revolution, the European Union has become the largest buyer of liquefied natural gas from Russia in the first seven months of this year, according to an environmental nonprofit.

Global Witness said EU member states bought 22 million cubic meters of LNG from Russia during the seven months, a jump of 40 percent over the same period in 2021.

The purchase was worth5.75 billion based on price estimates by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki, Finland.

The Global Witness report published on Wednesday showed it is a much sharper rise than the global average increase in Russian LNG imports, which stands at 6 percent.

In total, the EU bought 52 percent of Russia's LNG exports between January and July, compared with 49 percent last year and 39 percent in 2021.

Spain and Belgium are the second- and third-largest buyers of Russian LNG, trailing behind China. During the first seven months of this year, Spain bought 18 percent of Russian LNG, Belgium bought 17 percent and China 20 percent.

In March, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson urged member states and EU companies to stop buying Russian LNG. Spain's Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera also asked Spanish companies not to sign new Russian LNG deals, calling the situation "absurd".

Global Witness revealed that French company TotalEnergies is the biggest non-Russian buyer of Russian LNG, with acquisitions nearing 4.2 million cu m in the first seven months.

Between March and December last year, Shell in the Netherlands bought and sold 12 percent of all of Russia's exports — more than 7.5 million cu m of LNG.

"That national capitals are buying more LNG from Russia than before the (Russia-Ukraine conflict) shows that we are simply not moving fast enough to replace gas with renewables," Jonathan Noronha-Gant, senior fossil fuel campaigner at Global Witness, said.

The EU had earlier set a target to cut its Russian energy dependency by 2027.

Qin Yan, a carbon analyst based in Oslo with financial data provider Refinitiv, said the EU has made tremendous efforts to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.

Awkward situation

"But the data revealed that the EU has increased its dependency on Russian LNG, which is the same gas as in pipeline but only more costly. This is a hidden, awkward situation that the EU has not openly admitted," she said.

"We can expect that with the significant reduction in pipeline gas exports to the EU, Russian LNG exports to the EU will rise further."

Since February last year, the EU has accused developing countries such as India and China of increasing energy imports from Russia.

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar rebuffed the criticism in January. "Europe has managed to reduce its imports while doing it in a manner that is comfortable." he said. "Essentially, if it was a matter of principle, why didn't Europe cut off energy from Moscow on Feb 25?"

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock complained last week that Western sanctions against Russia were not having an "economic impact".