French imports of Russian natural gas rise despite sanctions

This article was originally published in English

Russian liquefied natural gas shipments to France more than doubled in the first half of this year, according to new analysis of trade data, at a time when Europe has sought to pull back on energy purchases that help finance Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Europe has restricted imports Russian oil, but natural gas is still permitted.

Although French companies are the most importantAccording to an analysis, in the first half of this year, European Union countries imported 7% more Russian LNG (refrigerated and liquefied natural gas for easy maritime transport) than in the same period last year.

Russia’s fossil fuel phase-out

Oleh Savytskyi, founder of the non-profit Razom We Stand, which advocates for tougher sanctions against Russian fossil fuels, said the EU’s goal of phasing out all Russian fossil fuels by 2027 is “terribly misguided“He said that countries that buy Russian LNG are sabotaging the energy transition of the European continent and contributing billions of euros to Russia’s war efforts.

European governments have said that a complete ban on Russian gas imports would skyrocket energy and heating bills, and industrial gas users would also be harmed.

The analysis comes from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, IEEFA, a US organization non-profit The aim is to accelerate the global transition to more sustainable energy. The IEEFA examined data from Kpler, a shipping tracker, and ICIS, a commodity data provider, which also provided their own analyses.

According to the institute, French companies imported almost 4.4 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG in the first half of this year, compared with more than 2 billion cubic meters in the same period last year. The next largest importers, Spain and Belgium, registered an increase of 1% and a decrease of 16%, respectively, according to the IEEFA.

French energy giant accounts for most of imports

The company TotalEnergies, the French energy giant that represented Most of the imports In a list of shipments from January to June seen by AP reporters, France said it was bound by contracts signed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance told AP that Houthi rebel attacks on ships transiting the Suez Canal have forced a reshuffle in LNG imports: Gas from the Middle East can no longer easily reach Europe, while Russia’s route from the Arctic has not been affected.

Ministerial sources indicated that France is one of the Main LNG entry points in EuropeIn addition, France and Spain, with seven each, have the largest number of LNG terminals in Europe.

At the same time that France imported more Russian LNG, it imported less from other suppliers, such as the United States, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt and Nigeria – an amount that approximates the increase in Russian LNG, according to the analysis. None of the LNG exports from those other countries was affected for the attacks carried out in the Red Sea.

Russian LNG prices are not public, but it is usually sold at a small discount because Some buyers don’t want itexplained Jason Feer, global head of business intelligence at energy consultancy Poten & Partners.

Neither French households nor industry use the surplus gas. Demand in France fell French gas exports via pipeline to Belgium rose by almost 10% in the first six months of this year compared to the previous year, according to Kpler data. It is not possible to know how much of this export was LNG from Russia.

“What this indicates is that people is making money with this trade,” says Feer.

Russia’s largest LNG project is on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic Circle, a joint venture with TotalEnergies, which owns 20%. Under a contract signed in 2018, TotalEnergies is committed to purchasing LNG there. 4 million tons of gas per year.

TotalEnergies said in an email that was legally bound to honor its contracts and will do so “as long as European governments consider that Russian gas is necessary for the security of supply to the European Union.”

Only if new sanctions were imposed could purchases be suspended, he said. TotalEnergies said its imports of Russian LNG into Europe had decreased during the period studied.

A spokesman for the European Commission said that Russian gas imports fell considerably between 2021 and 2023. A temporary increase in volume “does not call into question the achievements of the EU in the last two years,” said European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz. “We have diversified our imports and most of the gas needed It is supplied by reliable partnerssuch as Norway and the United States.”

However, Savytskyi of Razom We Stand called on the EU to impose a full embargo on the product. TotalEnergies “should not have a free hand to keep Europe hooked on Russian gas,” he said.