The EU is buying up Russian liquefied natural gas at the highest level in 3 years, think tank says

• The EU is purchasing Russian liquefied natural gas at the highest level in three years, according to Bruegel data.
• Though the bloc has sanctioned Russian oil and fuel oil, LNG imports are still free-flowing.

Despite efforts to wean itself off of Russian energy, the European Union is buying up Russian liquefied natural gas at the highest level in three years, according to the think tank Bruegel.

The 27-nation bloc imported 19.2 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG in 2022, according to data from the European research group. That's the highest amount of LNG the bloc has purchased from Russia in over three years, representing a 35% increase from sales in 2021, when it snapped up 14.2 billion cubic meters.

It also makes the EU Russia's second-largest LNG customer, despite efforts from European nations to cut off other Russian energy imports. So far, the bloc has banned Russian oil and fuel oil, but LNG sales are still free-flowing, with no signs of demand pullback.

That's partly due to plunging European imports of Russian pipeline gas, which sparked fears of an energy crisis in Europe last year as supplies grew scarce and energy prices skyrocketed. Russia slashed pipeline gas exports to Europe in mid-2022 in retaliation to western sanctions, and now, has plans to mothball the key Nord Stream pipelines, a sign it has given up on Europe as a key buyer of pipeline gas.

Europe has sidestepped a crisis this winter, thanks to mild weather and its strong stockpile of liquefied natural gas from alternative suppliers like the US. But Russia is still a major source of LNG, particularly as the continent still runs the risk of an energy crisis in the winter of 2023, according to International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol. Birol said the continent still needed to put more effort into diversifying away from Russian energy, or potentially risk blackouts later on in the year when storages are depleted.