EU Council, Parliament Strike Deal to Ban Russian Gas, Pipeline Imports
EU ministers and the European Parliament agreed this week on a proposal that could end imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas in fall 2027.
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The agreement, struck after the European Commission proposed the Russian energy bans earlier this year (see 2506180058 and 2510210015), is expected to “put an end to EU’s dependence on Russian gas,” said Lars Aagaard, Denmark’s minister for climate, energy and utilities. Banning it “in the EU permanently is a major step in the right direction.”
The European Council and Parliament said Russian LNG and pipeline gas imports will be prohibited from "six weeks after entry into force of the regulation," and the proposal includes various transition periods, depending on the type of contract and gas:
- Short-term supply contracts concluded before June 17, 2025, will face a ban from April 25, 2026, for Russian gas and June 17, 2026, for pipeline gas.
- Long-term contracts for LNG imports will face a ban from January 2027.
- Long-term contracts for pipeline gas imports will face a ban beginning Sept. 30, 2027, “provided that member states are on track to [fulfill] the storage filling targets foreseen in the gas storage regulation, and at the latest on 1 November 2027.”
Amendments to existing contracts will be allowed only for "narrowly defined operational purposes and cannot lead to increased volumes," the council said.
Both LNG and pipeline gas imports will be subject to a prior authorization regime. For Russian gas imported within the transition period, the “information required for authorisation must be submitted at least one month before entry,” the EU said. “For non-Russian gas, the proof must be provided at least five days before entry and 7 days for gas imported via the Strandzha 1 interconnection point.”
These prior authorization import rules won’t apply to gas products from countries that fulfill “certain criteria, such as major gas-producing countries that exported more than 5 bcm of natural gas to the EU in 2024, and that either prohibit or restrict imports of Russian gas, or countries without any infrastructure to import,” the bloc said. “Based on ongoing monitoring by customs and authorising authorities, the Commission can update the list of exempted countries and, if necessary, may remove countries from the list, e.g. in case of documented circumvention.”
The agreement must be endorsed by the European Parliament and Council before being formally adopted.