European Union countries increased imports of Russian liquefied gas by 40% during seven months of this year compared to the same period in 2021 – before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to The Financial Times, citing data from the international non-governmental organization Global Witness, Spain and Belgium are the second and third largest buyers of LNG in the world, Forbes reports .
The EU plans to import record volumes of LNG from Russia this year, even as the bloc aims to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
The publication noted that the rapid increase in imports is due to a low base, as the EU did not import significant volumes of LNG before the war in Ukraine due to its dependence on gas from Russia, writes the FT.
However, according to Global Witness, this increase is much larger than the global average increase in Russian LNG imports of 6% over the same period – the EU is importing around 1.7% more Russian LNG compared to last year’s record high.
According to Global Witness, the value of LNG imported during the seven months of this year at spot market prices is 5.29 billion euros.
Belgium imports large volumes of Russian LNG because its port of Zeebrugge is one of the few European transshipments for liquefied gas from ice-class tankers used in the far north to regular cargo vessels.
Spain’s Naturgy and France’s Total also have ongoing contracts for large volumes of Russian LNG, analysts said.
At the beginning of the year, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson called on EU countries and European companies to stop buying Russian LNG in view of the imposed sanctions.
Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera also asked Spanish buyers not to sign new contracts for Russian LNG, calling the situation “absurd.”
A recent investigation by Global Witness found that Shell and TotalEnergies continued to trade Russian LNG after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Total is the largest buyer of liquefied gas, buying almost 4.2 million cubic meters of Russian LNG since the beginning of the year, according to Global Witness analysis in July. Джерело: https://biz.censor.net/n3440429
(C)CENSOR.NET 2023
Scum!
Spain are a bit fucked, as they have no other way to heat or cook other than LPG.
Electricity there is very expensive and to convert totally to electric would involve rewiring the whole Country as the Amps per dwelling is in the ‘How the fuck do you manage with so little’ range.
“At the beginning of the year, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson called on EU countries and European companies to stop buying Russian LNG in view of the imposed sanctions.”
The Commissioner forgot the magic words; …or else.
The corrupt Biden administration lost a big chance to replace Russian LNG with American. Now the voters have another reason to vote for Trump. Electricity doesn’t grow on trees…
on one side of the cursor there is: the sanctions must penalize and prevent
the fascists to finance their aggression and on the other side of the cursor there are the economies and public opinions which finance Ukraine must hold…
we had to wait for invasion + 8 months for European leaders to understand that there was a clash between Putin’s mafia style of governance (corruption, intimidation, etc.) and the European mode of governance (fight against corruption, respect for minorities, etc.) ). now everyone understands.
if we buy gas from the devil without him getting enough to wage his war, there is no problem. do we know at what price we buy?
but in any case if we give a little to the devil we have to see the whole equation. Being responsible often means choosing the lesser evil.
there is no purity in this world, that doesn’t mean that there are only bastards.