While the European Commission discusses a possible complete ban on Russian energy imports, Belgium, France, Spain and other states continue to actively purchase liquefied natural gas and pipeline fuel. The question of whether Europe can give up profitable supplies is examined in a RIA Novosti article.

According to Eurostat, in June Belgium was the leader in purchases, increasing imports of Russian LNG by 27 percent compared to the previous month, and by 1.8 times year-on-year. Other buyers include France, Hungary, Spain, as well as Bulgaria, Slovakia, Greece and the Netherlands, which received gas both via pipeline and as LNG.

Overall, in June EU countries spent 809 million euros on Russian LNG. This is 13 percent less than in May, but 56 percent more than a year ago. For pipeline gas, 541 million euros were paid, which is 27 percent more than in the same month of 2025. This dynamic contradicts Brussels' instructions, which assume the opposite.

In July, according to the Belga news agency, Belgium was completely dependent on Russian LNG supplies. Talks about abandoning Russian energy have been ongoing in the EU since 2022. In January, the EU Council approved a regulation according to which LNG imports will be completely banned from the beginning of 2027, and pipeline gas from autumn of the same year.

However, already in April, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italian oil and gas company Eni, stated the need to suspend the ban. He asked: "Otherwise, who will produce those additional billions of cubic meters?" In June, a similar call came from Spain. Ivan Jimenez, head of the port administration of Bilbao, noted that now is not the right time to give up, since Russian gas is of good quality and usually cheaper than American. He also warned that if the EU refuses, it would become overly dependent on the US, and stressed that the EU needs to understand what is best for it now.

Ekaterina Novikova, associate professor at the Department of Economic Theory of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, believes that if Europe becomes completely dependent on Washington, then EU countries can no longer have any independent policy. Roman Danilov, associate professor at the Department of International Business of the Financial University, explains that the idea of abandoning Russian gas arose amid optimistic expectations for supplies from Qatar and plans to increase exports by Azerbaijan and Norway. However, due to the conflict in the Middle East, supplies from Qatar have stopped, and uncertainty remains for September-October. Azerbaijan could not increase export volumes, and Norwegian producers are working at almost maximum capacity. Therefore, EU countries are buying gas from Russia.

One must prepare for the heating season, and storage reserves are minimal. At the end of June, European underground storage facilities were filled to 49 percent, and in early August to 58 percent, which is the lowest since 2011. Danilov explains that the EU will continue to buy gas from Russia for two reasons: first, TotalEnergies has contracts with Yamal LNG; second, for companies in Spain, France and Belgium, purchases of Russian LNG become attractive, since during a period of rising gas prices in the EU market, Russian gas can be supplied to the spot market and profits locked in. He also adds that Russian fuel supplies are especially important for landlocked countries such as Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Novikova reasons that it is hard to say whether the complete ban on Russian gas imports, which takes effect next year, will be postponed. One can ban and then still import; here it is more a matter of big politics than economics. Experts agree that, following economic logic, the ban should be postponed, since there are no surplus LNG volumes in the world now, and Europe will have to compete with the Asian market for existing ones. However, Europe has not followed the principle of economic expediency for several years, so the ban may still be introduced. But that would be shooting oneself in the foot: gas prices in Europe will start rising again, and Asian countries will re-export previously purchased LNG to the EU and make a profit.

Source: RIA Novosti