European Parliament Seeks Faster Phaseout of Russia Oil, Gas
(Bloomberg) -- The European Parliament is considering accelerating a phaseout of Russian oil and gas imports in a bid to sever ties definitively with the region’s former top energy supplier.
Parliament’s industry committee is set to vote on amendments to the so-called RePowerEU regulation, including halting Russian oil and petroleum-product imports from the start of 2026 and banning all gas flows a year later, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The move would align the end of piped-gas imports with a halt to seaborne deliveries already set out in the European Union’s proposed sanctions package. But whereas the sanctions are temporary by design, the RePowerEU initiative is a separate, longer-term plan to cut reliance on Moscow for good.
The global gas market is expected to start shifting into a surplus in the second half of next year, reducing the risk that an EU phaseout would put pressure on supplies and drive up prices. That’s helped secure broad political support for a comprehensive and lasting break with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The European Commission originally proposed to halt Moscow’s piped-gas flows at the end of 2027. An earlier phaseout has now been endorsed by members of several political groups across the parliament, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private.
Under amendments to the RePowerEU regulation in the EU assembly, new purchases would be banned from the start of next year, while existing short-term contracts would be exempted until mid-June and long-term contracts until Jan. 1, 2027.
The EU has a long-standing policy of not commenting on draft rules.
Oil and Products
In a vote scheduled for Oct. 16, the committee will also seek a ban on Russian oil and petroleum products from the start of next year. In its original proposal, the commission stopped short of setting a firm date to phase out oil, obliging member states instead to prepare plans to diversify their supplies.
RePowerEU is currently being debated in two parallel tracks: by the parliament and by member states. Once each agrees on a negotiating position, talks with the commission will begin to iron out the final shape of the regulation.
Although the EU has already cut oil and gas purchases from Moscow significantly since 2022, the bloc still receives about 15% of its liquefied natural gas from Russia, making the country its No. 2 supplier after the US, with a monthly bill of between €500 million ($587 million) and €700 million.
The commission also plans to impose tariffs on the remaining imports of Russian oil that arrive via the Druzhba pipeline into Hungary and Slovakia — if they’re not phased out. Budapest and Bratislava have so far been reluctant to diversify and have blocked measures they claim endanger their energy security.
Russian crude flows to Hungary and Slovakia via Druzhba averaged about 220,000 barrels a day in total in the first half of this year, according to Bloomberg calculations.
While the sanctions plan tabled last month needs unanimous approval by the EU’s 27 member states, the RePowerEU measure requires qualified-majority backing in the EU Council and majority support in the parliament.
(Updates with size of oil imports in penultimate paragraph.)
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
