Report: EU spends over 6 bln euros on Russian LNG in 2023

MOSCOW, Nov 20 (PRIME) -- The E.U. countries including the largest supporters of Kyiv – Estonia and Lithuania – have bought more than 6.1 billion euros worth of Russia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023, the Telegraph reported on November 19 quoting European statistics agency Eurostat.

In spite of the promise to reject the Russian fossil fuels, the amount of LNG carriers that transport the energy source from Russia to Europe grew in 2023. The European countries bought more than half of all the LNG that Russia exported this year, with Spain and France being the second and third largest buyers of Russian LNG this year losing only to China, the Telegraph reported.

According to Eurostat, Spain spent 1.8 billion euros on Russian LNG in January–September, France bought 1.5 billion euros worth of Russian LNG in the period, while Belgium spent 1.36 billion euros on the energy source, and even Estonia and Lithuania continued buying LNG from Russia in spite of their pro-Ukrainian stance.

These procurements coupled with the warm weather and the carryover gas reserves from 2022 allowed the E.U. to fill up its underground gas storages to a record level of 99.63% prior to the start of the winter season, the Telegraph reported.

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