The European Union is currently debating how and when to halt its significant energy imports from Russia. One potentially easier option would be closing loopholes that currently facilitate substantial imports of niche fuels from Moscow.
The EU has come under pressure from the United States to accelerate the bloc’s plan to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by the end of 2027. US President Donald Trump is seeking to increase economic pressure on Moscow to encourage an end to its war in Ukraine.
While Europe has sharply reduced its purchases of Russian oil and gas since 2022, it remains a significant importer.
In August, the EU was the fourth-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels, accounting for around $1.4 billion of Moscow’s export revenue, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas make up two-thirds of these imports, followed by crude oil at 32 per cent. The remaining 2 per cent came from niche products exempt from sanctions.
The EU aggressively reduced Russian oil imports, imposing a ban, with some exceptions, in 2023. Russia's share in EU oil imports has dropped from 29 per cent in early 2021 to 2 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, according to official data.
The bulk of remaining oil imports go to landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, which were able to negotiate carve-outs, arguing that logistical constraints made it too complex and expensive for them to find alternative supply routes.
While the EU hasn’t formally banned Russian gas imports, Europe has reduced Russian pipeline gas purchases from 48 per cent of total imports in 2021 to 12 per cent this year, with Hungary and Slovakia again the major buyers, along with Austria.
However, pipeline gas has been replaced by LNG. And the bloc’s Russian imports of the fuel actually rose to 11 billion cubic meters in the first half of 2025, up from 9.5 bcm in the same period in 2019, according to research centre Bruegel.
Given this backdrop, how might the EU respond to the US president’s call to wean itself off Russian energy more quickly?
An easy win for the EU would be bringing forward the ban on LNG imports by one year, something that is already included in the 19th package of sanctions against Russia proposed by the European Commission in September.
The global LNG market is expected to be well supplied for years, thanks to production growth in the US and Qatar, meaning ending Russian LNG imports likely would not significantly raise energy costs for Europe.
However, the timeline for phasing out Russian pipeline oil and gas imports – which remains unchanged in Europe’s latest proposed sanctions package – is far more politically and technically complex given the objections of Hungary and Slovakia.
Another, less politically fraught option would be closing loopholes that have allowed the EU to continue importing significant volumes of specialized oil products.
Tankers deliver around 20,000 barrels per day of gas condensate from Russia’s Yamal LNG plant in the Arctic to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Condensate is typically used as feedstock for gasoline and jet fuel.
In December 2022, the EU excluded gas condensate imports from its Russian oil ban, arguing that the byproduct of non-sanctioned LNG facilities should not be restricted.
This wasn’t the only niche carve-out. While the EU banned Russian liquefied petroleum gas imports in December 2024 - a fuel mainly used for heating and transportation – it allowed Poland to continue importing butane with over 95 per cent purity from Russia.
This loophole seems to be widening. Pure butane imports into Poland have surged since the start of 2025, peaking at 40,000 tonnes in March, five times the average monthly level in the previous year.
Importers exploited the loophole to blend the cheaper product into other LPG inventories, according to Bartosz Kwiatkowski, director general of the Polish Liquid Gas Association.
Finally, the commission renewed an exemption last year allowing Croatia to import Russian vacuum gas oil, a refinery feedstock.
The EU already appears to have these loopholes in its sights. Imports of Russian vacuum gas oil are currently scheduled to stop at the end of 2025, and the EU’s 19th sanctions package is expected to close the butane loophole, though the timeline remains unclear.
Clarifying and speeding up these efforts might be an easy next step.
Europe’s dependence on Russian energy imports spans decades. Cutting off the remaining imports, especially pipeline oil and gas shipments into inland markets, may be financially painful and politically sensitive – and thus will not be accomplished quickly.
Halting imports of niche products like gas condensate and isobutane, on the other hand, would be a far smaller challenge. It would not be a game-changer, but it would dent Russia’s revenue and send a clear message to both Moscow and Washington.
(Ron Bousso. Editing by Mark Potter)