Russia becomes third-largest gas supplier to EU

Russia ranked third among gas suppliers to the European Union in the first quarter of 2026, following Norway and the United States, according to calculations based on data from the European analytics centre Bruegel.

Total Russian gas deliveries to the EU from January to March reached approximately 11.5 billion cubic meters, Caliber.Az reports, citing TASS.

This is below the volumes supplied by Norway (25.2 billion cubic meters) and the U.S. (22.7 billion cubic meters), but above Algeria (9.7 billion cubic meters).

Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the EU hit a historic high in March, amid halted shipments from the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict and the imminent enforcement of short-term bans on Russian LNG.

EU imports of Russian LNG in the first quarter reached about 6.8 billion cubic meters, up from 5.7 billion cubic meters a year earlier.

In March alone, 2.46 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG were delivered to Europe, marking a record monthly volume.

Overall EU LNG imports in March, according to Bruegel, totalled 14.1 billion cubic meters, the highest on record.

For the January–March period, EU LNG purchases rose 10% year-on-year, reaching 39.2 billion cubic meters.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov