EU To Rather Sooner Than Later Ban Russian LNG: Spanish Energy Minister

The European Union will agree rather sooner than later to ban imports of Russian LNG, Spain Energy Minister Teresa Ribera told Reuters on Tuesday.

• "This will be coming sooner than later," Ribera said, when asked, when the EU will add Russian LNG to the sanction list.
• The Spanish Energy Ministry in March sent a letter to LNG importers and operators in the country asking them to not renew or sign new contracts for Russian LNG, once contracts have expired. The request followed a similar appeal from EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.
• "If we want to be consistent, we need to say we are not going to accept Russian LNG anymore," Ribera said.
• "We could all be much more comfortable with that scenario,” she added. "As time goes by, things would be increasingly easier to adopt this decision, banning the imports of LNG from Russia."
• The G7 and EU leaders are likely to finalise a decision to prevent the resumption of Russian gas pipeline exports to Europe during the next G7 summit this weekend according to a draft statement seen by the FT.