EU seeks to ditch Russian gas deals
Photo: The EU intends to abandon Russian gas (Getty Images)
Brussels is exploring legal options that would allow European companies to break long-term gas contracts with Russia without paying huge fines to Moscow, Financial Times reports.
The European Commission is examining contracts and the possibility of declaring force majeure. Using Russia’s war against Ukraine as a force majeure could be legally insufficient, an EU official said.
Pipeline gas supplies from Russian territory to Europe have fallen sharply since the war began, but Russian LNG shipments have grown rapidly in the past three years.
European Commission lawyers are examining legal options as part of a roadmap for the bloc to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. The plan comes at a critical time for the EU as it also tries to present a US energy deal to counter President Donald Trump’s tariff regime.
The EU paid Russia 21.9 billion euros for oil and gas between February 2024 and February 2025, according to the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.
LNG contracts
Unlike Russian coal, gas was not subject to an import ban, while the EU has banned 90% of oil imports from Moscow. The country’s gas imports have increased by about 60% in the past three years, but overall, Russian gas exports to the bloc remain the lowest since 2022.
Ports in France, Spain, and Belgium are the main import hubs for Russian LNG. The Yamal LNG plant still has contracts with some of the biggest energy companies, including Shell and Naturgy.
The Brussels-based think tank Bruegel this month argued in favor of tariffs rather than a complete ban on Russian gas imports, saying the former would generate EU revenue and force Russian suppliers to lower prices to remain competitive. Unlike sanctions, tariffs only require the support of a majority of EU member states to pass.
They wrote that an effective common instrument on Russian gas imports was urgently needed, as otherwise Russia could once again use the prospect of selective gas supplies to stoke deep divisions between member states
The European Commission will announce a detailed strategy for phasing out Russian oil and gas imports on May 6. The EU has pledged to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027 in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but there has been no roadmap on how to do so.
