Belgium’s energy minister said on Monday, January 22, that it is unclear whether Belgium will use options in upcoming European Union legislation to block Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
Reforms to EU gas market rules agreed last year will give EU countries a legal option to prevent Russian companies from reserving capacity on their gas infrastructure, giving EU countries access to Russian pipeline gas and LNG. It will be possible to stop the supply.
Referring to the EU gas market law option, Belgian Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten said: “It is not entirely clear whether we can cooperate with it.”
“We are also faced with certain contracts in Belgium that were signed before the war. How to deal with this remains an open question,” he told a meeting of the European Parliament’s energy committee on Monday. Stated.
Belgium became the EU’s third largest importer of Russian LNG from January to September. 2023. However, much of this supply is not confined to Belgium.
About 45% of the Russian LNG received by Belgium from January to September. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in 2023, the cargo will be transshipped, meaning it will be transferred to another ship and sent to another country or port.
Van der Straeten said any action to take advantage of the options in EU law to restrict Russian LNG would first require consultation with neighboring countries. “This is something we cannot undertake unilaterally,” she said.
The EU’s gas market rules await final approval from EU member states, which is typically a formal step.
The 27-nation European Union pledged to phase out Russian gas following the Russian military’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Europe’s gas pipeline imports from Russia have fallen sharply since the start of the war, but LNG imports have not.
Russian gas and LNG are not subject to EU sanctions. The EU has banned the import of offshore crude oil and petroleum products from Russia.
