NEW YORK, July 30. /TASS/. Russia almost overtook the United States in July in terms of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, despite politicians' attempts to block supplies of Russian fuel, Bloomberg reported.

"Russia was close to overtaking the US as Europe’s top supplier of liquefied natural gas this month, despite efforts by the region’s politicians to block its fuel and punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine. The outcome is not so much about higher imports from Russia as it is slumping flows from America. The gap between the two countries’ LNG deliveries to western Europe shrank in July to the narrowest since late 2021," Bloomberg reported citing o preliminary ship-tracking data.

According to the report, "The dramatic shift illustrates how shippers of US LNG will always choose a higher-paying region to point their tankers to. American seaborne gas typically doesn’t have destination restrictions. As soon as hot weather boosted demand in Asia, more of it was delivered there than during any month since 2021."

On June 24, the Council of the European Union approved the 14th package of anti-Russian sanctions. It includes a ban on purchases or imports of LNG from Russia through EU terminals not connected to the community gas network.