This Russian product is being sold at a discount – Europe just bought it in record numbers

European countries bought a record amount of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from Russia last year, says the analysis house Rystad Energyn information.

Last year, Russia overtook Qatar as Europe’s second largest importer of liquefied natural gas. The United States holds the top spot.

Ships docked in European ports transported 17.8 million tons of product in 2024, which is more than two million tons more than a year earlier.

Liquefied gas does not flow in pipes, but is transported on ships as a liquid. When it reaches its destination, it is turned back into a gas.

Most Russian LNG has been brought to the ports of Belgium and France, from where it continues to other countries.

The Finnish Energy and Clean Air Research Center Crean the data, whose figures differ slightly from Rystad’s figures, show that Russian LNG imports to the EU reached 7.32 billion euros in 2024. According to it, 17.5 million tons of gas were imported, which was 14 percent more compared to the previous year.

According to Crea, Russian lng is now offered at a discount. Since there are no sanctions imposed on the commodity, companies act in their own interest and buy gas from the cheapest supplier.

A ban is being considered

The import of liquefied gas from Russia is still allowed for the time being, despite the war in Ukraine. However, ten EU countries, including Finland, have demanded the bloc ban the import of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas from Russia, the news agency reports Bloomberg’s sources.

The ban raises concerns about whether the United States will be able to effectively cover the deficit created by Russia. If the ban on LNG ends, European countries would have to obtain it from other sources. This would probably increase its price, even though the production of lng is currently increasing in the world.

Gasum stopped purchases already last summer

The EU plans to stop importing fossil fuels from Russia by 2027. Until now, the purchase of Russian coal, oil and oil products is prohibited.

In June of last year, the member states agreed to ban the reshipment of Russian liquefied natural gas, which means that EU countries may not act as intermediary countries in the export of Russian LNG.

A state-owned company in Finland Gasum stopped importing Russian LNG last summer.

At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia limited its natural gas supplies. Several European countries, on the other hand, announced in 2023 that they would completely stop importing Russian natural gas or limit it to a minimum. For example, Germany announced that it is almost completely independent of Russian energy.

However, the oil ends up in Europe, because Russia sells it to, for example, India. European countries buy it back as processed products from India. Crude oil travels with the shadow fleet.

The agreement concluded with Ukraine, which had enabled the transit of Russian natural gas through the Ukrainian pipeline network to Europe, ended at the beginning of the year.

Get rid of Russian gas completely

Many EU countries have taken steps to eliminate dependence on Russia. New and expanded LNG terminals are currently being built in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Britain, on the other hand, has signed a long-term agreement with the United States of Venture Global with. Its goal is to cover a third of the country’s demand for LNG gas.

LNG is widely used in electricity production. Many power plants burn LNG to generate electricity because it is a cleaner alternative compared to coal or oil. In addition, many industries use lng as an energy source.