Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the EU vitality myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
Brussels is exploring authorized choices that may permit European firms to interrupt long-term Russian gasoline contracts with out paying hefty penalties to Moscow.
The European Fee has been learning the contracts and the opportunity of declaring pressure majeure, which might permit importers to exit their obligations with out paying extra charges, in line with three officers with information of the plan.
“If the entire concept isn’t paying Russia, then [paying compensation] would undermine the entire function,” one EU official stated.
The transfer highlights the EU’s wrestle to wean itself off Russian vitality and deprive the Kremlin of revenues for its struggle in Ukraine. Moscow’s gasoline now makes up simply 11 per cent of the bloc’s provides through pipeline, in contrast with nearly two-fifths in 2022, however volumes of Russian liquefied pure gasoline LNG have elevated quickly previously three years.
Fee attorneys are exploring authorized choices as a part of a street map on how the bloc will rid itself of Russian fossil fuels by 2027. The plan comes at a vital time for the EU because it additionally tries to current an vitality deal to the US to counter President Donald Trump’s tariff regime.
The Fee declined to remark.
The US is already the bloc’s greatest provider of liquefied pure gasoline and is seen as an apparent alternative for any additional discount in Russian gasoline.
The EU paid €21.9bn to Russia for oil and gasoline between February 2024 and February 2025, in line with the Centre for Analysis on Vitality and Clear Air.
In contrast to Russian coal, gasoline has not been topic to an import ban, whereas the EU has prohibited 90 per cent of oil imports from Moscow. Imports of the nation’s shipped gasoline elevated about 60 per cent over the previous three years, however whole Russian gasoline exports to the bloc are nonetheless the bottom since 2022.
The street map — initially meant to be printed in March — has been delayed partly due to considerations that any ensuing laws can be blocked by Hungary and Slovakia, which now account for many of the remaining piped gasoline nonetheless flowing into the EU.
Hungary’s pro-Russia authorities has threatened that it could reject gasoline sanctions, which want unanimous approval from the EU’s 27 member states.
The street map has additionally been pushed again due to early discussions over the way forward for the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Germany and Russia, which have been revived amid US efforts to discover a rapprochement to finish the Ukraine struggle, and the inclusion of gasoline purchases in commerce talks with the Trump administration.
“It’s a multitude,” one EU diplomat stated. “How does the US slot in all this? How can we diversify?’’
European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen, nonetheless, advised the Monetary Instances that the plan ought to be printed in “three to 4 weeks”.
Regardless of strain from Brussels, EU nations are cautious of forcing firms to chop LNG contracts with Russia amid considerations that it’ll push up costs when firms are fighting geopolitical turmoil and excessive prices.
The Fee gave member states powers to stop Russian and Belarusian operators hooking up LNG to port infrastructure or sending their gasoline by means of EU pipes, however ministers have complained that this doesn’t give them sturdy sufficient authorized means to pressure firms to interrupt their contracts.
The complexity for the fee’s attorneys is that contracts are secret and have a tendency to vary. Utilizing the struggle in Ukraine to name pressure majeure might not be legally enough, one EU official stated.
France, Spain and Belgium’s ports are the principle import hubs for Russian LNG. Moscow’s Yamal LNG plant nonetheless holds contracts with a number of the EU’s greatest vitality firms together with Shell and Naturgy.
Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel this month argued in favour of tariffs reasonably than a full ban on Russian gasoline imports, noting that the previous would generate income for the EU and pressure Russian suppliers to decrease costs to stay aggressive. In contrast to sanctions, tariffs solely require a majority of EU member states to again them so as to be permitted.
“An efficient widespread software on Russian gasoline imports is urgently wanted — as in any other case Russia would possibly once more use (the prospect of) selective gasoline provides to gasoline profound discord amongst member states,” they wrote.
