The British government is urging the European Union (EU) to halt the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia. This is reported by the British newspaper ” Daily Express “. There is concern that despite the sanctions imposed due to the conflict in Ukraine, Russian gas could find its way into the British energy network through the EU.
Bypassing British import ban through EU network
The situation resembles a tangled knot in a sprawling network. Although the UK decided last year not to allow LNG imports from Russia, Russian gas products could still enter the country through the EU. This is because some EU countries still directly source natural gas from Russia – a practice that British Energy Minister Claire Coutinho now wants to suspend.
Coutinho plans to make her appeal at a meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris, as reported by the “Daily Express”. However, it remains uncertain whether the countries still importing Russian gas – including Belgium, France, and Spain – can easily reconfigure their supply networks.
France under scrutiny
According to the report, the trade in Russian gas was worth nearly 16 trillion euros in 2022. Iain Duncan Smith, a politician from the UK, is particularly critical of France. He finds it astonishing that France continues to import Russian gas, despite taking less action than the UK and Germany to support Ukraine.
But how likely is it that Russian gas actually sneaks into Britain? According to experts, the risk is low, but there is no one hundred percent certainty, writes the “Daily Express”. This is because it is impossible to track the exact origin of every gas molecule that enters the United Kingdom.
