EU countries for the first time in almost two years imported more natural gas in a single quarter from Russia than from the United States, according to a new study of the energy market.
The European Union purchased more than 12.7 billion cubic metres from Russia and 12.3 billion from the US from April to June, the Brussels-based Bruegel consultancy reported.
Compared with the first quarter of 2024, deliveries from Russia fell slightly, but those from the US fell more sharply, the research found.
Norway remains the EU’s largest gas supplier with 23.9 cubic metres in the second quarter.
Russia held this position until it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, after which many EU states cut back on Russian imports.
According to the German government’s statistics, that country no longer purchases gas from Russia. However, across the EU, Russia has risen to second place in the list of suppliers, just ahead of the US. The destination countries were not clear from the data.
In Sunday’s edition of the Welt newspaper, Norbert Röttgen, a foreign affairs expert for Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposition party, called for an EU-wide import ban on Russian gas.
“The Europeans are supporting Ukraine with billions and at the same time paying billions into Putin’s war chest – that is neither responsible, rational nor credible,” Röttgen said.
Michael Kruse, energy policy spokesman for Germany’s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), a member of the ruling coalition, called for a surcharge on the price of imported Russian gas to boost financial and military aid to Ukraine.
“This would allow Putin to pay for the resistance against his barbaric attacks himself,” Kruse told the newspaper.
