EU plan to end Russian oil and gas imports due out in May

15/4/2025 6:18

The European Commission will announce a more detailed strategy to phase out Russian oil and gas imports next month, it said on Monday, after twice delaying the plan.



The EU has pledged to quit Russian fossil fuels by 2027 in response to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but the Commission has delayed publishing its "roadmap" for how to do so. The plan was initially due last month.



The Commission will now publish the roadmap on May 6, an agenda published on Monday showed.



The delays were due in part to uncertainty around U.S. President Donald Trump's planned tariffs, with energy trade potentially factoring into EU-U.S. trade talks, EU sources told Reuters.



While Russian pipeline gas deliveries have plunged since 2022, the EU increased its imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year, and the bloc still got 19% of its total gas and LNG supply from Russia in 2024.



Unlike oil, the EU has not imposed sanctions on imports of Russian gas.