EU Reaches Preliminary Agreement to Ban Gas Imports from Russia

The European Union Council and Parliament have reached a preliminary agreement to phase out the import of Russian natural gas. This was announced in a press release posted on the EU Council's website.

The regulation presents a phased ban on the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline gas from Russia, followed by a complete ban set to come into effect by the end of 2026 and in the fall of 2027, respectively.

The co-authors of the bill confirmed that the ban on gas imports will take effect six weeks after the law is enacted, while a transitional period will be maintained for existing contracts. For short-term contracts signed before June 17, 2025, the ban on LNG will take effect on April 25, 2026, and for pipeline gas on June 17, 2026.

For long-term LNG import contracts, the ban will begin on January 1, 2027, and for long-term pipeline gas import contracts, it will begin on September 30, 2027, provided that storage capacity targets are met no later than November 1, 2027.