Europe increases purchases of Russian Yamal LNG before full ban

Filed 1h ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

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Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Act Two

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: European Parliament · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

EU countries have spent an estimated €7.28 billion on Yamal LNG from Russia's Arctic project through Sept. 5 of this year, already surpassing all of 2025's total, according to Euronews reporting on analysis by Urgewald. Cargo volumes rose about 10% year over year even as Yamal's global exports fell, meaning Europe absorbed 88.9% of the project's exports compared to 78.2% a year earlier.

An LNG analyst at Kpler said the surge reflects EU buyers maximizing imports before a ban on Russian LNG under long-term contracts takes effect Jan. 1, 2027; a prior ban on short-term contracts began in April 2026. France led European imports at roughly 4.4 million metric tons, followed by Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

Yamal LNG is controlled by Novatek, chaired by billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, whose company also holds stakes in two sanctioned LNG projects, one of which has filed a $1 billion arbitration claim against a South Korean shipbuilder.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Announcing a ban that does not start until next year is a fine way to guarantee a shopping spree today, and Europe took the invitation. Calling this a phaseout is generous when the numbers show buyers stocking up faster than ever before the door closes. If the goal was starving the Kremlin's gas revenue, somebody forgot to tell the ports in France and Belgium.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Act Two · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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