The European Union (EU) confirmed this Monday (26) the provisional political agreement reached at the end of 2025 to fully ban imports of Russian natural gas, both through pipelines and in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Confirmation came with the formal adoption of the regulation by the 27 Member States, according to an official EU statement, which sets the end of LNG on January 1, 2027 and establishes September 30, 2027 as the deadline for gas transported by pipelines – an adjustment in relation to the previous forecast, which mentioned November 2027.
According to the EU statement, the regulation prohibits the import of Russian gas through pipelines and LNG into the EU, with application beginning six weeks after the rule comes into force. Existing contracts will have a transition period, in a “phased approach to limit the impact on prices and markets”. The text reinforces that the measure is “a fundamental milestone in achieving REPowerEU’s objective of ending the EU’s dependence on Russian energy”.
The statement also highlights that the bloc’s countries must “verify the country where the gas was produced before authorizing entry into the Union market”, in addition to adopting rigorous monitoring mechanisms. Failure to comply with the rules may result in penalties that include fines of at least 40 million euros for companies or a relevant percentage of revenue.
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According to the EU, by March 1, 2026, member states will have to present national plans to diversify gas supplies and identify challenges to replacing the Russian product. The statement also provides that, “in case of emergency and serious threat to security of supply”, the European Commission may temporarily suspend the ban for up to four weeks.
In the background, the EU recalls that, despite the sharp drop in Russian oil imports, Russian gas will still account for around 13% of the bloc’s imports in 2025, maintaining risks for European energy security, according to the statement itself.
