The EU increased spending on Russian Arctic LNG to €8.7 billion ahead of the ban – report
Kyiv • UNN
From January to October 2026, the EU purchased 12.89 million tonnes of LNG from Yamal for €8.7 billion. Imports are to be banned from January 1, 2027.
In the first ten months of 2026, the European Union spent approximately €8.7 billion on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic, 21% more than its estimated bill for all of 2025, according to estimates by the environmental campaign group Urgewald. UNN reports this, citing Euronews.
Details
As Brussels prepares to ban imports of Russian LNG from January 1, 2027, European buyers continue to provide Moscow with a lucrative market and replenish the Kremlin’s “war chest,” despite repeated political pledges to end the bloc’s dependence on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine, the outlet notes.
Urgewald analyzed data from energy analytics company Kpler, according to which EU ports received 12.89 million tonnes of LNG from Russia’s Yamal LNG project from January to October, 6.3% more year-on-year. This volume accounted for 81% of the project’s recorded supplies worldwide.
Europe remains the main customer of one of Russia’s flagship Arctic gas projects, the Yamal–Europe gas pipeline, although EU leaders have repeatedly stated that dependence on Russian fuel is ending. During this period, the EU received a shipment of LNG from Yamal approximately every 1.7 days, the outlet notes.
Only 50 days remain before the ban on imports of Russian LNG under existing long-term contracts comes into force, while EU purchases continue to grow.
The increase in spending reflects not only higher volumes but also rising gas prices, the outlet writes.
Deliveries in October fell by 11% compared with September, but their estimated value rose by 2.6% to €839 million, as the benchmark European gas price climbed to €86.79/MWh, more than double the level before the start of the US and Israeli war against Iran.
France (5.37 million tonnes) became the main destination for October deliveries, accounting for 70% of the volume delivered to the EU. Other recipients of Russian Arctic LNG in October included Spain (2.91 million tonnes), the Netherlands (1.32 million tonnes), and Portugal (0.22 million tonnes).
Belgium (3.06 million tonnes) remained the largest individual destination when considering the first ten months of 2026: 42 shipments totaling approximately 3.1 million tonnes were unloaded in Zeebrugge.
According to Urgewald, no shipments from Yamal were recorded at the Belgian terminal in August, September, or October, although its importance to overall trade remains significant.
Alexander Kirk, who works on sanctions issues at Urgewald, noted that commercial LNG partnerships between the EU and the United States, Norway, and Algeria continue.
"We can stop importing Russian LNG on January 1. But simply changing suppliers still leaves European households vulnerable to gas price spikes and political pressure from abroad," Kirk told Euronews, calling for wider use of clean technologies to reduce gas demand.
"Every home we insulate or switch to a heat pump reduces demand for gas. Whenever wind or solar replaces gas in the energy system, Europe cuts emissions and deprives gas exporters of some of their influence," he emphasized.
According to Urgewald, the loss of the European market will undermine the economics of Russia’s Arctic LNG exports, rather than simply leading to the redirection of existing volumes to other regions.
However, the scale of the consequences will depend on how successfully Moscow manages to develop alternative routes and markets.
The largest recipients in the Asian market were China, South Korea, and Taiwan, which accounted for 18.6% of Yamal deliveries from January to October.