European Parliament approves legal possibility to block Russian LNG imports

The European Parliament has adopted rules that allow European governments to ban imports of Russian LNG by not allowing Russian companies to book gas infrastructure capacity.

The EU is trying to avoid imposing sanctions on Russian gas because some members rely heavily on it. The new gas policy aims to establish a legal path for governments to block Russian gas supplies to their country, although so far no major importers have indicated that they will use this option.

The new EU gas market rules allow governments to temporarily ban Russian and Belarusian gas exporters from bidding for capacity in the infrastructure needed to deliver LNG to Europe.

A representative of the Spanish Energy Ministry said that the country supports the EU's common position on the ban on Russian LNG, as if Spain did it alone, Russian firms could simply send their gas to other EU ports.

The Belgian energy minister said that the government is analyzing the law and its conditions that the restriction of Russian gas imports cannot disrupt gas flows between EU countries. Belgium re-exports much of the Russian LNG it receives to other countries.