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Belgium, one of Europe’s biggest importers of liquefied natural gas from Russia, has urged the EU to ban the Russian fuel, warning that companies cannot break long-term contracts unless the bloc as a whole imposes sanctions.
Tinne Van der Straeten, Belgium’s energy minister, told the Financial Times the EU must “go further” to stop Russian LNG reaching the bloc as concerns rise about an increase in imports.
Rules introduced by Brussels last December to prevent Russian energy companies using EU infrastructure did not give enough legal grounds for companies that used ports such as Belgium’s Zeebrugge — a major hub for LNG imports and re-export to third countries — to curtail contracts, she said.
Typical LNG contracts run for a decade or more, so many currently in force date from before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“We have looked into this . . . We have Russian gas coming into Belgium. I have looked under every stone and the gas [legislation] is not going to help,” Van der Straeten said. “We need a European approach.”
Sophie Hermans, Dutch minister for climate and green growth, told the country’s parliament in a Monday letter that she would raise the issue at a meeting of EU energy ministers next month.
The number of tankers carrying Russian gas that arrive at Rotterdam’s main Gate terminal has risen sharply this year: from an average of one a month from mid-2022 until mid-2024, it reached two a month over the summer, Hermans said. A standard-sized tanker typically carries the equivalent of about 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes of gas.
“There are no other options where we can terminate private contracts without a sanction rule from the European Commission being applied,” Hermans said.
Brussels has consistently pushed EU countries to cut their reliance on Russian fossil fuels since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But it has stopped short of introducing sanctions on the fuel beyond a ban on trans-shipments — the import and re-export of Russian LNG to other countries — which was agreed in June, but has yet to come into force.
After Spain, Belgium was the second-biggest importer of Russian LNG in 2023, according to analytics company Kpler. But France looks set to overtake Belgium and Spain this year following an increase in imports to Dunkirk and Montoir.
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Despite pressure from importing countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands to introduce sanctions on Russian LNG, there is little prospect of securing the unanimous agreement of all EU member states that would be required.
Hungary, for example, has regularly opposed taking further measures to cut Russian fossil fuels.
EU diplomats from importing countries have also said that much of the gas passes through to other EU member states. Figures on how much is sold on are commercially sensitive and therefore are kept confidential by the companies involved. “It would help us a lot if that data could be made public,” one said.
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Van der Straeten said that EU countries should also focus on building up homegrown renewable power with a more “can-do attitude”.
That could involve co-ordinating tenders for offshore wind contracts, for example, to give certainty to manufacturers for longer production runs.
Belgium this month announced a €682mn tender for a 700MW wind farm in the North Sea, while specifying that developers should have “proven expertise in Europe” and imposing strict cyber security criteria to prevent competitors from countries such as China from undercutting European bidders.
The auction is also the first in the EU to mandate that bidders must include measures to provide low-cost renewable electricity to citizens.
“What we wanted to achieve was that this renewable affordable electricity would come to your house or your company and benefit you directly,” Van der Straeten said.
In line with recommendations on a report on European competitiveness by former Italian premier Mario Draghi, the Belgian minister said Europe should ditch support for its flagging solar industry and focus on offshore wind power and manufacturing electrolysers for the production of hydrogen — industries that have not yet been undercut by cheap Chinese competition.
For solar panels, “the ship has sailed, the market is gone. Electrolyser capacity, but also offshore wind are clean technologies that we really need to foster”, Van der Straeten said.
Data visualisation by Janina Conboye