The Netherlands reportedly purchased over 200 million cubic meters of Russian LNG in September, RIA Novosti has reported
The Netherlands continues to import Russian gas despite earlier pledges to stop the practice, news outlet RIA Novosti reported on Saturday, citing Dutch statistics data.
According to the report, in September the EU country imported some 211.5 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Moscow worth €109 million ($117 million). This followed a three-month break in Dutch imports of Russian LNG, which came after the country’s Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten announced that the government was working to stop imports of hydrocarbons from Russia.
In his announcement in April, he pledged that the Netherlands will stop signing new contracts for Russian LNG supplies and will seek the termination of pre-existing agreements, which prompted imports to sharply drop in May and to stop altogether during the summer months.
While the EU placed numerous sanctions on Russia amid the Ukraine conflict over the past 22 months, Russian gas has so far not been targeted by restrictions. Nonetheless, EU imports of pipeline gas from the sanctioned country have mostly been halted amid the bloc’s general drive to end its reliance on Russian energy. However, the EU continued to buy record volumes of LNG from Moscow this year, with shipments hitting an all-time high of 1.75 million tons in November, according to data by Kpler.
READ MORE: Cold weather causes surge in EU gas consumption
Meanwhile, according to the latest media reports, the EU is currently working on legislation that would allow member states to unilaterally end gas imports from Russia. According to the document, which has been seen by the Financial Times, the measure would give any member state the power to “partially or, where justified, completely limit” or block Russian and Belarusian companies from buying capacity in European pipelines and LNG terminals.
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