Europe imports record-levels of Russian gas in 2022 despite sanctions

Although the geopolitical situation is tenser than ever and sanctions against Moscow remain, Europe is importing a record amount of seaborne Russian gas, which indicates how the region has not completely shaken off its dependence on the country for the crucial fuel.

As the FT reported, imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), typically transported on big tankers, rose more than 40% between January and October this year compared to last year's period, highlighting the difficulty for Europe in weaning itself off gas from Moscow despite Brussels’ attempts to shift away from Russian sources.

Russian LNG made up 16% of European seaborne imports during the period. The publication argues, that while the total volume of 17.8 billion m³ represented a fraction of the 62.1 b m³ pipeline gas flows during this time, it nevertheless leaves Europe exposed to President Putin’s weaponization of energy.

“One day, Putin could wake up and say 'we’ll stop sending LNG to Europe' forcing the region to buy from an even more expensive spot market”, said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, global research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University to FT.

She predicted, that Russia could also divert the cargoes to LNG-starved countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan at cheap prices to “achieve political gains” and “put pressure on Europeans”, adding that “it’s very important not to forget that a lot of countries are suffering, because they cannot afford LNG”.