Financial Times: EU rules out ending Russian LNG imports in 2026

The European Union does not plan to take any measures to stop imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2026, according to Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Jørgensen confirmed the position that there will be no changes in EU legislation aimed at ending LNG imports from Russia in 2026, Caliber.Az reports.

To secure additional energy supplies, the commissioner advised member states to turn to the United States and other partners operating “on the free market.”

He said that while the EU was “not in a security of supply crisis, yet”, Brussels was drawing up plans to tackle “structural, long-lasting effects” of the conflict.

The warning from the EU comes as the energy shock reverberates across the world, raising the spectre of higher inflation and slower economic growth, forcing governments to draw up plans to support consumers and prompting some countries to fire up coal plants.

Jørgensen said the EU was “preparing for the worst scenarios” even if the bloc was “not there yet” on needing to ration critical products such as jet fuel or diesel.

“I mean, better to be prepared than to be sorry,” Jørgensen said.

Russian LNG deliveries to the EU reached a historic high in March, amid a halt in shipments from the Middle East due to ongoing military conflict, according to calculations by TASS based on data from the European analytical centre Bruegel.

In the first quarter, the EU imported around 6.8 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG, up from 5.7 billion cubic meters a year earlier.

In March alone, supplies to Europe totalled 2.46 billion cubic meters — the highest monthly volume on record.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov