EU ramps up Russia's Yamal LNG purchases as import ban nears
on Google
The EU was the destination of nearly all of Russia's Yamal Arctic liqueified natural gas (LNG) deliveries in the first half of 2026, boosting Moscow's revenue amid escalating strikes against Ukraine, the environmental and sanctions-monitoring NGO Urgewald reported on July 13.
Between January and June, EU countries paid an estimated 5.96 billion euros ($6.82 billion) for Yamal LNG cargoes, with most shipments arriving in France, Belgium, and Spain, Urgewald said, citing Kpler data.
Yamal LNG, located on Russia's Arctic Yamal Peninsula, is one of the country's largest LNG projects, accounting for over 60% of its total LNG exports.
The news comes as the European bloc prepares for a full ban on Russian LNG imports in January 2027, a part of a broader push to wean itself off Russian energy and cut off Moscow's wartime budget revenues.
European ports received 136 out of the 140 Yamal LNG cargoes shipped in the first half of 2026. This amounted to 9.97 million metric tons of caro, an 16% volume increase compared to the same period last year, Urgewald said.
While the EU — Kyiv's key wartime backer — ramped up purchases, only four cargoes went to China, Russia's close ally, in the first half of the year.
"In the fifth year of the war against Ukraine, the EU is still helping keep Russia's Arctic LNG sector afloat," Sebastian Rotters, a sanctions campaigner at Urgewald, said in the press release.
"This is not happening in a vacuum. In the first half of 2026, Russia intensified its assault in Europe's worst war since World War II, targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure and civilian sites on an unprecedented scale.
"Meanwhile, Europe continued to import more than 55,000 tons of LNG from Yamal every single day on average."
