In April, Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten said that his country was working to halt all LNG imports from Russia, winding down all the existing contracts. Next month, Dutch imports of LNG from Russia, which had seen no interruptions before, declined by almost 30% and stopped completely in June. The pause lasted throughout the summer.
In September, however, the Netherlands bought 211.5 million cubic meters of Russian LNG for 109 million euros ($117 million). This drove Dutch imports from Russia up 5.4% month-on-month to $410.5 million.
The EU is facing skyrocketing fuel prices since the bloc joined anti-Russia sanctions caused by Moscow's special military op in Ukraine in February 2022. According to recent Eurostat data, the EU has been forced to overpay some €185 billion for gas imports as a result. Russia, meanwhile, has reported an additional €14 billion in gas revenue due to surging prices.