OREANDA-NEWS After stopping transit through Ukraine, EU countries are purchasing Russian gas at a record pace. This is reported by Politico with reference to data from Kpler.

Statistics show that in the first 15 days of 2025, 27 EU countries purchased 837.3 thousand tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG). For comparison, 760.1 thousand tons were imported in the region last year. Analysts of the publication note that this reinforces concerns that European states are not doing enough to reduce dependence on Russian resources.

According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), gas reserves in European underground storage facilities (UGS) they are already half exhausted. As of January 15, France's reserves dropped to 49.24 percent, and the Netherlands' to 47.58 percent.

In the first half of January 2025, the rate of gas extraction in European UGS dropped to about 66 percent of their total capacity. They were 28 percent higher than the average over the past five years. In total, more than 34 billion cubic meters of gas have been consumed in the region since the beginning of the heating season. As a result, the rate of fuel consumption in the region turned out to be the third highest in its history.