Russia Overtakes US in Gas Supplies to Europe

European gas imports from Russia exceeded supplies from the United States in May this year for the first time since 2022, despite the EU's efforts to abandon Russian supplies, the Financial Times reports .

The publication notes that some countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, still rely on Russian gas imports. This, as the Financial Times writes, highlights the difficulty of further reducing Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

“It’s amazing to see Russian gas’s market share in Europe growing after everything we’ve been through and all the efforts made to reduce dependence and de-risk energy supplies,” said Tom Majec-Manser, head of gas analytics at consultancy ICIS.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has cut gas supplies to Europe. In turn, European countries have increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is shipped on specialized vessels mainly from the United States.

US gas supplies exceeded Russian imports in September 2022, and since 2023 the US has accounted for about a fifth of all LNG imports to Europe. However, according to ICIS data, in May this year, Russian gas imports accounted for 15% of total supplies to the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia.

The Financial Times claims that the increase in imports was influenced, among other things, by the shutdown of a major LNG export facility in the United States, as well as Russia increasing gas supplies to Turkey. At the same time, as the publication notes, demand for gas in Europe remains weak, and its reserves are close to record highs.

Mazhets-Manser argues that the growth in Russian imports “will likely not last long.” According to him, Russia will supply LNG to Asia via the Northern Sea Route in the summer, and Europe will again increase its gas purchases from the United States.

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