Deliveries of Russian liquefied natural gas to France more than doubled in the first half of this year, according to new analysis of trade data, at a time when Europe was trying to withdraw from energy purchases that were used to finance the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Europe has restricted oil imports from Russia, but natural gas is still allowed. And while companies in France import the most, an analysis found that EU countries as a whole imported 7% more Russian LNG – natural gas that has been cooled and liquefied for easier sea transport – in the first half of this year than in the same period last year.
Oleh Savytskyi, a founding member of the nonprofit Razom We Stand, which advocates for tougher sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, said the EU’s goal of completely phasing out Russian fossil fuels by 2027 was “horribly off track.” He said countries buying Russian liquefied natural gas were sabotaging the continent’s energy transition and contributing billions to Russia’s war effort.
European governments have said that a complete ban on Russian gas imports would lead to a huge increase in energy and heating costs and that industrial gas consumers would also suffer.
The analysis initially came from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a US nonprofit organization whose goal is to accelerate the world’s transition to more sustainable energy. IEEFA examined data from Kpler, a shipping tracker, and ICIS, a commodity data provider, both of which also provided their own analysis.
According to the institute, companies imported nearly 4.4 billion cubic meters of Russian liquefied natural gas into France in the first half of this year, compared with more than 2 billion cubic meters in the same period last year. The next largest importers, Spain and Belgium, saw an increase of 1 percent and a decrease of 16 percent, respectively, according to IEEFA.
TotalEnergies, the French energy giant that accounted for the largest share of imports, according to a list of cargoes between January and June seen by The Associated Press, said it was bound by contracts signed before Russia invaded Ukraine. And France’s finance and economy ministry told the AP that Houthi rebels’ attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal had forced a restructuring of LNG imports — gas from the Middle East could no longer easily reach Europe, while Russia’s route out of the Arctic remained unaffected.
The ministry pointed out that France is one of the most important European import points for LNG. France and Spain have the most LNG terminals in Europe, with seven terminals each.
While France imported more Russian LNG, it imported less from other suppliers, including the United States, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt and Nigeria – an amount that the analysis found was close to the increase in Russian LNG. None of these other countries’ LNG exports were affected by the Red Sea attacks.
Price data for Russian liquefied natural gas is not public, but it is usually sold at a small discount because some buyers don’t want it, says Jason Feer, global head of business intelligence at energy consulting firm Poten and Partners.
The additional gas is not used by French households or industry. Demand in France fell by 9% in the first half of this year compared to last year. At the same time, France’s gas exports via pipeline to Belgium rose by almost 10% in the first six months, according to Kpler. It is not possible to say how much of this was Russian LNG.
“This shows that people are making money from this trade,” Feer said.
Russia’s largest LNG project is located on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic Circle. It is a joint venture with TotalEnergies, which owns 20 percent. Under a contract signed in 2018, TotalEnergies is committed to buying 4 million tons of gas from there annually.
TotalEnergies said in an email that the company is legally obliged to honor its contracts and will do so “as long as European governments consider Russian gas necessary for the security of supply to the European Union.”
Only if new sanctions were imposed could the purchases be suspended, it said. TotalEnergies stated that its imports of Russian liquefied gas to Europe had actually decreased during the period under review.
A spokesman for the EU Commission said imports of Russian gas would fall significantly between 2021 and 2023.
A temporary increase in volume “does not call into question the EU’s successes over the past two years,” said spokesman Adalbert Jahnz. “We have diversified our imports and the majority of the gas we need is supplied to us by reliable partners such as Norway and the USA.”
Savytskyi of Razom We Stand, however, demanded that the EU impose a complete embargo on the raw material. TotalEnergies “should not have a free hand to keep Europe dependent on Russian gas,” he said.
