Russia overtook the United States in the month of May as the lead supplier of liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe for the first time in nearly two years, the Financial Times reported on June 16.
According to the International Commodity Intelligence Service (ICIS), Russian-piped gas LNG shipments made up 15 per cent of supply delivered to the EU, UK, Switzerland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, FT reported. While U.S. LNG supplies made up just 14 per cent of the supply.
The report attributes decreased U.S. exports to a one-time outage at a major LNG export facility, combined with Russia delivering more gas through Turkey ahead of planned maintenance in June.
Despite the one-time reversal, Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at ICIS, told the Financial Times that the export trend was "not likely to last," as Russia prepares to deliver more LNG to Asian countries.
China remains Russia's largest gas customer, having ended 2023 purchasing over 6.8 million tonnes of gas.
Russian gas giant Gazprom commissioned a report in June that revealed the country will not be able to recover losses incurred from Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine for at least 10 years.
Despite Brussels' target to be free of Russian fossil fuels by 2027, several EU members remain heavily reliant on Russian gas, and imports of LNG from Russia reached record highs last year.
European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said on May 6 that there are currently no sanctions against Russian LNG, but EU energy ministers "made a decision and proposed a tool to limit the access of Russian liquefied natural gas to our energy terminals."
The EU is working on a proposal to limit imports of Russian liquified gas (LNG) as part of the upcoming 14th package of sanctions.
Read also: FT: Ukraine signs first major deal with US company for LNG supplies