MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. The European Union paid 664 mln euro for Russian pipeline gas in November, with Slovakia having paid the highest amount in more than 1.5 years for it, according to Eurostat data and TASS calculations. Russia remained among leaders in terms of total value of gas imports in the EU with an 18.8% share, along with Algeria and the US.
EU countries paid more than 592 mln euro for LNG from Russia in November 2024, which is 15.6% lower month-on-month, and 17.6% lower year-on-year. This is the lowest level since September 2024 when 548 mln euro were spent to pay for Russian LNG supplies. Among the main importers were France (240.5 mln euro), Spain (233 mln euro, the July 2024 high), and the Netherlands (104 mln euro, the highest level in a year). Belgium slashed LNG purchases from Russia five-fold month-on-month to 14.6 mln euro.
The European Union also imported Russian pipeline gas worth 664 mln euro in November, with the largest portion purchased by Hungary (258 mln euro, the January 2024 high), Greece (164 mln euro), and Slovakia (151 mln euro, the February 2023 high). The statistics on Austria has not been disclosed, while Italy reduced gas imports from Russia to the lowest level since the beginning of 2024 as it purchased gas worth 78 mln euro.
All in all, the EU purchased gas worth around 1.26 bln euro in November 2024, which is 4% lower than in the previous month, and 11% higher than in the same period in 2023. Russia was the third-largest gas supplier to the Union in the reporting period with an 18.8% share, down from 21.2% in October.
Algeria topped the list again with a 25.5% share and supplies to Europe worth 1.7 bln euro, followed by the US with a 20.4% share of LNG supplies worth 1.36 bln euro. Norway was the fourth with a 13.8% share and deliveries worth 923 mln euro, followed by Azerbaijan with a 6.8% share and supplies worth 452 mln euro.
In 11 months of 2024, the European Union paid 6.7 bln euro for Russian pipeline gas, down from 7.3 bln euro in the same period last year. LNG purchases from Russia were worth 6.3 bln euro in January-November, down from 7.4 bln euro in the previous year.
According to the RePower EU program, the European Union intended to cut its reliance on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of 2022 and bring it to zero by the end of 2027.
Meanwhile the cost of purchases of Russian LNG for the EU climbed by 150% in three years due to an increase in prices and the volume of LNG deliveries from Russia.