The European Commission is working on a proposal to cut off Russian oil and gas imports after facing criticism for heavy dependence on Russian President Vladimir Putin for energy.
A vote on the proposal is expected on May 6, though the exact date may change, a spokesperson for the commission told Fox News Digital.
“It will be a comprehensive plan to phase out Russian fossil fuels from the European energy market,” spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said, declining to share any further details.
The deal may include increasing U.S. natural gas imports, as Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen has suggested in the past.
EUROPEAN UNION SPENT MORE ON RUSSIAN FOSSIL FUELS THAN UKRAINE AID IN 2024
The EU currently relies on the U.S. for about half of its LNG. President Donald Trump has said Europe should make up for the U.S. trade deficit by purchasing more U.S. fuel supplies.
“They’re going to have to buy their energy from us, because they need it,” Trump said last week.
The EU spent roughly $23 billion on Russian oil and gas imports last year, surpassing the $19.6 billion it provided in financial aid to Ukraine, which was a point Trump criticized in his joint address to Congress last month.
“Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far. Think of that: They’ve spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have defending,” he said.
In 2024, Russia accounted for 19% of the EU’s total gas and LNG supply, down from 45% before the war began. While the bloc has sanctioned Russian oil, it has stopped short of imposing financial penalties on gas imports.
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In fact, natural gas shipments from Russia ticked up in 2024, rising to 16.5 million metric tons from 15.2 million the year prior.
Despite Western bans on Russian crude and refined products, Russian oil exports are down a mere 8% since before the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has made close to $1 trillion from oil exports since February 2022.
Russia has relied on its “shadow” fleet of 585 oil tankers to transport many of its exports, intended to mask their origins. Russia purchases aging ships from European owners, frequently reflags them and uses shell companies to obscure their Russian origins.
Russia also exports oil to third-party states that have not placed sanctions on Moscow, who in turn sell it to the West.
The proposal was originally meant to be published in March but was delayed in part because of concerns that it might be blocked by Hungary and Slovakia, the two nations that rely most on Russian fuel imports.
Hungary, which has been sympathetic to the Russian war effort, has threatened to block gas sanctions, which need unanimous approval from the 27-member bloc.
The EU will have a “difficult” time nailing down new gas agreements while it is operating under a net-zero climate emissions goal, according to Argent LNG CEO Jonathan Bass.
“They can’t sign a 20-year offtake agreement from the U.S. starting in 2030, when they’ve got to be out of gas by the EU regs by 2050 or by the German regs by 2040,” Bass told Fox News Digital.
“They need to figure out how to terminate this 2050 plan, or at least push it to 2070 so it gives these European companies the runway to be able to contract American molecules.”
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