On August 6, Caixin reported (editor Xia Junxiong) that the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (asia vets) showed that Russia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation to France doubled in the first half of this year.

So far, the European Union has imposed 14 rounds of sanctions on Russia, involving multiple industries, including a ban on the import of Russian oil, but has not imposed sanctions on Russian natural gas. Despite this, the European Union has set a goal to be free from dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 as of 2022.

IEEFA is a nonprofit organization in the United States that researched data from ship tracking company Kpler and bulk commodity data provider ICIS.

Analysis shows that in the first half of this year, French companies imported nearly 4.4 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG, compared to just over 2 billion cubic meters in the same period last year, while the total amount of LNG imported from Russia by EU countries increased by 7% during the same period. Among the Russian LNG imported into France, energy giant Total occupies the largest share.

At the same time, France's imports of LNG from other supplying countries such as the United States, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, and Nigeria decreased, with the amount of decrease close to the increase in Russian LNG imports.

The pricing data of Russian LNG is not publicly available. Jason Feer, global head of business intelligence at energy consulting firm Poten and Partners, said that Russian LNG is usually sold at a slight discount because some buyers do not want it.

However, this additional natural gas is not being used by French industry and households. In the first half of this year, French natural gas demand decreased by 9% compared to last year. According to Kpler's data, French natural gas exports to Belgium via pipeline increased by nearly 10% in the first half of this year. It is not yet clear how much of it is Russian LNG.

Feer said: "This shows that people are making money through this trade."

European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz pointed out that from 2021 to 2023, the European Union's imports of Russian natural gas will significantly decrease.

Jahnz said a temporary increase in imports does not call into question the achievements made by the European Union in the past two years. "We have achieved diversification of imports, and most of the necessary natural gas is supplied by reliable partners, such as Norway and the United States."