New European Union sanctions will ban condensate imports from Yamal LNG and other Russian projects that produce the light fuel as a byproduct of their liquefied natural gas production from January 1, 2027, according to the EU's official journal.
The European Union on Thursday formally approved a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia ahead of an informal summit of the bloc's leaders in Cyprus.
The EU is tightening sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine as US-brokered peace talks have been paused, with Washington's focus on the war in Iran.
The EU has banned Russia's oil imports since December 2022 and subsequently introduced a price cap for Russian oil.
The bloc has almost fully ended Russian coal, crude oil and fuels imports. In 2021, it imported 43 per cent of its fuels from Russia and 25 per cent of its crude oil supply.
Russia produces gas condensate, a type of light oil, at its two LNG-producing projects: Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2.
The Yamal LNG plant in the Arctic exported 1.12 million tonnes of gas condensate to Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 2024, up 16.3 per cent from 2023.
Last year, the supplies rose by 7.4 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes.
Gas condensate is used as feedstock for production of petrochemical products as well as motor fuel.
The EU initially excluded gas condensates from sanctions in 2022, citing the need to ensure security of LNG supplies.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)