Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the EU vitality myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
Belgium, certainly one of Europe’s largest importers of liquefied pure fuel from Russia, has urged the EU to ban the Russian gas, warning that firms can not break long-term contracts except the bloc as a complete imposes sanctions.
Tinne Van der Straeten, Belgium’s vitality minister, informed the Monetary Instances the EU should “go further” to cease Russian LNG reaching the bloc as issues rise about a rise in imports.
Guidelines launched by Brussels final December to stop Russian vitality firms utilizing EU infrastructure didn’t give sufficient authorized grounds for firms that used ports corresponding to Belgium’s Zeebrugge — a significant hub for LNG imports and re-export to 3rd international locations — to curtail contracts, she mentioned.
Typical LNG contracts run for a decade or extra, so many at the moment in drive date from earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“We have looked into this . . . We have Russian gas coming into Belgium. I have looked under every stone and the gas [legislation] is not going to help,” Van der Straeten mentioned. “We need a European approach.”
Sophie Hermans, Dutch minister for local weather and inexperienced development, informed the nation’s parliament in a Monday letter that she would elevate the difficulty at a gathering of EU vitality ministers subsequent month.
The variety of tankers carrying Russian fuel that arrive at Rotterdam’s primary Gate terminal has risen sharply this 12 months: from a median of 1 a month from mid-2022 till mid-2024, it reached two a month over the summer time, Hermans mentioned. An ordinary-sized tanker usually carries the equal of about 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes of fuel.
“There are no other options where we can terminate private contracts without a sanction rule from the European Commission being applied,” Hermans mentioned.
Brussels has persistently pushed EU international locations to chop their reliance on Russian fossil fuels since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But it surely has stopped wanting introducing sanctions on the gas past a ban on trans-shipments — the import and re-export of Russian LNG to different international locations — which was agreed in June, however has but to return into drive.
After Spain, Belgium was the second-biggest importer of Russian LNG in 2023, in accordance with analytics firm Kpler. However France appears to be like set to overhaul Belgium and Spain this 12 months following a rise in imports to Dunkirk and Montoir.
Regardless of strain from importing international locations corresponding to Belgium and the Netherlands to introduce sanctions on Russian LNG, there may be little prospect of securing the unanimous settlement of all EU member states that might be required.
Hungary, for instance, has commonly opposed taking additional measures to chop Russian fossil fuels.
EU diplomats from importing international locations have additionally mentioned that a lot of the fuel passes by to different EU member states. Figures on how a lot is offered on are commercially delicate and subsequently are stored confidential by the businesses concerned. “It would help us a lot if that data could be made public,” one mentioned.
Van der Straeten mentioned that EU international locations also needs to give attention to increase homegrown renewable energy with a extra “can-do attitude”.
That would contain co-ordinating tenders for offshore wind contracts, for instance, to provide certainty to producers for longer manufacturing runs.
Belgium this month introduced a €682mn tender for a 700MW wind farm within the North Sea, whereas specifying that builders ought to have “proven expertise in Europe” and imposing strict cyber safety standards to stop rivals from international locations corresponding to China from undercutting European bidders.
The public sale can also be the primary within the EU to mandate that bidders should embrace measures to supply low-cost renewable electrical energy to residents.
“What we wanted to achieve was that this renewable affordable electricity would come to your house or your company and benefit you directly,” Van der Straeten mentioned.
According to suggestions on a report on European competitiveness by former Italian premier Mario Draghi, the Belgian minister mentioned Europe ought to ditch help for its flagging photo voltaic trade and give attention to offshore wind energy and manufacturing electrolysers for the manufacturing of hydrogen — industries that haven’t but been undercut by low cost Chinese language competitors.
For photo voltaic panels, “the ship has sailed, the market is gone. Electrolyser capacity, but also offshore wind are clean technologies that we really need to foster”, Van der Straeten mentioned.
Knowledge visualisation by Janina Conboye
