Germany's Die Welt newspaper cited analytical data saying that Russia's move to surpass the US to become the second largest gas supplier to the European Union (after Norway) is highly symbolic.
The European Union has made weaning off its dependence on Russian gas a key priority after the conflict in Ukraine erupted in February 2022. Since then, expensive US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has taken a large share of the market, exacerbating economic crises across the EU.
In the second quarter of 2024, Russian gas accounted for about 17% of the EU's total gas imports, just ahead of supplies from the United States, Welt noted, citing data from the Brussels-based Bruegel research group.
European customers imported 12.27 billion cubic meters of US LNG in the second quarter of 2024, while Russia supplied 12.73 billion cubic meters to this block.
Russian supplies include both liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas, flowing into the EU via Belarus, Ukraine and via the TurkStream gas pipeline in the Black Sea.
Ukraine receives transit fees for Russian gas passing through its territory, but Kiev has threatened to suspend this activity after the current contract expires at the end of 2024. However, Ukraine has said it is open to third countries, such as Azerbaijan, to increase their use of its Soviet-built pipeline infrastructure.
Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the Department of Economic Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, described the gas import drive as a demonstration of the failure of the EU's sanctions policy.
“Although it is true that the indicators are significantly lower than before 2022, the facts speak for themselves. Greece alone has quadrupled its purchases of Russian gas in 2023,” Birichevsky told RIA Novosti on September 2.
The US has been seeking to replace Russia as Europe’s energy supplier since before the conflict in Ukraine. The Trump administration has called US LNG “the molecule of freedom” as it pressures EU countries to choose LNG over Russian gas . Norway has long been the leading gas supplier to the European Union market.
“In the context of the economic war imposed on us, our top priority is to redirect foreign trade to countries of the global east and south,” Birichevsky said, noting that Moscow now considers the EU an unreliable customer.
