The EU has already paid more to import Russian LNG than it did for the whole of 2025, with a month and a half left until the full EU ban on imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia, German campaign group Urgewald said on Thursday.
Between January and October, the EU paid as much as $9.6 billion (8.7 billion euros) to import gas from the Russian Yamal LNG project, according to Urgewald’s estimates based on vessel-tracking data by Kpler.
The EU’s bill for importing Russian LNG has already topped by about 21% the estimated $8 billion (7.2 billion) paid for the whole of 2025, the campaigners said, as carried by TradeWinds.
The EU has about 50 days left until a full ban on Russian LNG imports comes into effect on January 1, 2027.
This year, Europe has been paying higher prices for LNG imports after the Iran war and the blocked Strait of Hormuz cut off a large part of Qatar’s LNG supply, sending benchmark LNG and natural gas prices in Europe and Asia soaring.
So until the full EU ban on Yamal LNG imports takes effect, Europe is importing Russian LNG and paying higher prices to Russia for these.
In October alone, Russia’s LNG export revenues from unloaded cargoes rose by 3% to $85 million (77 million euros) per day, while volumes fell by 4% month-on-month, the monthly analysis by Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed on Thursday.
By contrast, loaded Russian LNG volumes rose by 5% in October from September, as higher loadings from Russia’s Yamal LNG, up by 17%, and the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project, up 20%, more than offset a 13% decline at Kamchatka and a halt in loadings at Portovaya and Murmansk, according to the findings of CREA’s analysts.
The EU remained the largest buyer of Russian LNG in October, accounting for almost half (47%) of Russia’s total LNG exports, followed by China (26%), Japan (18%), and South Korea (6%), the analysis found.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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