Back to Russian gas? Trump-wary EU has energy security dilemma

U.S. liquefied natural gas helped to plug the Russian supply gap in
But now that President
Against this backdrop, executives at major EU firms have begun to say what would have been unthinkable a year ago: that importing some Russian gas, including from Russian state giant Gazprom, could be a good idea.
That would require another major policy shift given that
"If there is a reasonable peace in
The French state partly owns Engie, which used to be among the biggest buyers of Gazprom's gas. Holleaux said
The head of French oil major TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, has warned
"We need to diversify, many routes, not over-rely on one or two," Pouyanne told Reuters. Total is a large exporter of U.S. LNG and also sells Russian LNG from private firm Novatek.
"
GERMAN PIVOT
In
"We are in a severe crisis and can't wait," said
He said the German chemical industry has cut jobs for five quarters in a row, something not seen for decades.
"Reopening pipelines would reduce prices more than any current subsidy programmes," he said.
"It's a taboo topic," Guenther added, saying many colleagues agreed on the need to go back to Russian gas.
Almost a third of Germans voted for
In the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the east German region where the Nord Stream pipeline comes ashore after running from
"We need Russian gas, we need cheap energy - no matter where it comes from," said
The industry wants the federal government to find cheap energy, said
"We can imagine resuming the intake or transport of Russian oil after peace is established in
TRUMP FACTOR
U.S. gas covered 16.7% of EU imports last year - behind
The EU is preparing to buy more U.S. LNG as Trump wants
"For sure, we will need more LNG," EU trade commissioner
The tariff war has strengthened
"It's becoming increasingly difficult to regard U.S. LNG as a neutral commodity: at a certain point it might become a geopolitical tool," Mitrova added.
If the trade war escalates, there is a small risk
A senior EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed, saying no one could rule out "that this leverage is used".
In the event U.S. domestic gas prices surge because of rising industrial and AI demand, the U.S. could curtail exports to all markets,
In 2022, the EU set itself a non-binding goal to end Russian gas imports by 2027, but has twice delayed publishing plans on how. An
ARBITRATION
Several EU firms have opened arbitration cases against Gazprom for non-delivery of gas following the
Courts awarded
Engie's Holleaux said
"You (Gazprom) want to come back to the market? Very good, but we won't sign a new contract if you don't pay the award," Holleaux said.
The return of Russian gas worries
"It's hard to comment, being Ukrainian, but my hope is that European politicians learned their lessons dealing with
(Reporting by
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