RUSSIA HAS BECOME THE EU'S MAIN GAS SUPPLIER FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2022

In September, European companies purchased gas from Russia for 1.4 billion euros. About 40% of supplies came from liquefied natural gas and 60% from pipelines.

Such a jump in exports allowed Russia to become the EU's main supplier of the blue fuel in September with a share of 23.74% against 16.54% in August. This happened for the first time since May 2022, when imports from Russia accounted for 22.9%.

Algeria, which lost the lead, is now in second place. The volume of supplies from this country decreased by 15% compared to the previous month – to 1.1 billion euros. In September, the United States increased its sales by 21% to €990.2 million, moving from fifth to third place.

Norway remains fourth, with shipments up 7% (to €975 million). But the United Kingdom, which was one of the three largest gas sellers in the EU in August, reduced supplies by 2.4 times and became the fifth with €429.2 million.

EU countries, in the REPowerEU plan published in spring 2022, set the goal of phasing out Russian pipeline gas in 2027-2028. Since then, the structure of Russian gas imports has undergone little change: the share of LNG has increased from about a third to 40%, and pipeline gas has decreased from 70% to 60%.