By Kate Abnett, Max Hunder and Timothy Gardner
BRUSSELS/KYIV (Reuters) – Lawmakers in Ukraine’s parliament want the European Union and United States to use sanctions to block Russia’s plans to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, and end Europe’s purchases of the fuel from Russia.
The lawmakers want measures that would reduce further the EU’s imports of Russian fossil fuels and make it tougher for Russia to expand its LNG projects and production – curbing Moscow’s potential revenues from selling the fuel.
In a letter to the European Commission and United States’ Treasury, seen by Reuters, the Ukraine parliament’s energy committee called for new sanctions, including a ban on EU and U.S. companies providing services to help Russia export LNG.
The letter also proposed “a full set of secondary sanctions against the Russian LNG sector in order to block Russia’s plans to expand LNG production and, in particular, to stop the Arctic LNG-2 project”.
Russia’s Arctic LNG-2 project is among the world’s largest. The first of the project’s three lines is due to launch at the end of the year.
The Ukrainian lawmakers said the project would fuel climate change and risked “taking Europe hostage again” if it increased the continent’s reliance on Russian LNG.
A Ukraine energy ministry spokesperson told Reuters the ministry had approved the lawmakers’ letter.
Russia, previously Europe’s top gas supplier, cut pipeline deliveries to Europe after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, triggering an energy crisis.
In response, the EU has pledged to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
The EU has some sanctions already targeting Russia’s LNG sector – including a ban on EU companies providing Russia with the technologies required for gas liquefaction.
The 27-country bloc has also banned Russian coal and seaborne oil imports, but not gas or LNG, which some EU countries still rely on.
The United States banned imports of Russian LNG weeks after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, though U.S. purchases of those shipments were rare.
The Ukrainian lawmakers request for “secondary sanctions” would use sanctions to target non-EU and non-U.S. companies or persons involved in commercial activity with Russia’s LNG sector.
Secondary sanctions in general would aim to prevent Russia from doing business with the rest of the world.
Neither the U.S. nor EU have yet imposed secondary sanctions that would affect Russia’s LNG industry since the invasion.
The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the letter.
A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the letter or possible future sanctions, but said the EU’s energy policy chief had backed a separate proposal to let countries voluntarily limit Russian LNG imports, should they wish to.
“We will not go back to the status quo with Russia as our main gas supplier,” the spokesperson said.
Russia is planning a major expansion of LNG production, but cut its LNG annual output target to 80-120 million tonnes by 2035, from 140 million tonnes, after the imposition of sanctions and as Western companies withdrew from Russia.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Max Hunder, Timothy Gardner. Editing by Jane Merriman)
