Up to now, the EU's sanctions in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine have left Russia's lucrative gas sector unmolested.

The proposed new sanctions would however strike a blow to around a quarter of Russia's LNG revenues.

POLITICO reported in its "Brussels Playbook" that representatives of the EU27 met Wednesday to discuss the new sanctions raft.

A meeting of the European Council (headed by Charles Michel and the second arm of the EU's executive along with the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen) is due to take place in Brussels late next month and will address the matter.

Since Russia has been exporting LNG to some EU member states which have suitable port facilities, which those member states have then re-exported

Commenting on the element of the sanctions proposal which concerns Russia's future LNG export revenues, Simson told ERR: "Since Russia has decided not to sell gas to many European companies—a unilateral decision by Russia—they are looking for new markets for their natural gas and want to increase their LNG capabilities."

"But we are limiting their access to technology and financing: [LNG terminals] Ust-Luga 2, Murmansk, Arctic—projects which do not directly affect the market today, but will impact Russia's production capacities after 2025," she said.

Russia itself does not have the necessary technology or access to financing that would allow it to boost its LNG production capacities.

The planned sanctions would force Russia to drastically change its LNG business model, particularly in terms of shipments sent to Asia via Europe, where the main hubs are ports in Spain, Belgium, and France.

According to Politico, without transit via these countries, Russia would have to send its LNG via the Arctic Ocean to Asia, requiring specially equipped icebreakers, which it currently lacks.

Simson said the gas package approved by the member states' energy ministers had also been voted on positively at the European Parliament, and is due to take effect on May 21.

She said: "The agreement was that member states' governments have the right to restrict Russian LNG and its entry into the European gas networks."

"This step has already been taken without sanctions, but now the question is also addressed of limiting or making more difficult Russian sales of LNG to third countries and transit via European ports," Simson went on.

The package approved last week by the commission began to be discussed in Brussels by the member states' MEPs on Wednesday evening as noted.

Simson was optimistic of this package being approved.

"As the gas package approved by the energy ministers affects a much larger part of the Russian LNG business than the additional sanctions proposal now, I am optimistic that the 14th package will be unanimously approved. But this can all happen only at a summit, and to my best knowledge, the heads of government will not be meeting until June," she went on.

"We never propose sanctions that would harm the European economy more than they negatively impact the Russian economy. So, this proposal has also been thoroughly prepared," Simson added.

"Plus the fact that we were able to include LNG for the first time in the sanctions package, where gas in any form has not previously been covered, is also viable because the energy ministers have done their preliminary work," the commissioner continued.

The European Council meeting is due to take place in Brussels on June 27-28.

LNG as its name suggests natural gas (predominantly methane, plus some admixture of ethane) which has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up around 1/600th the volume of natural gas in its gaseous state and is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.

It is vaporized, or re-gassified, on land, once being downloaded from an LNG vessel, for instance.

An LNG terminal has been in operation in Klaipeda, Lithuania, for several years, and Estonia now has a terminal at Paldiski, at the southern end of the Balticconnector gas pipeline. To the north, Finland has a functioning LNG terminal at Inkoo.

An independent Ukraine's natural gas supplies entering the market has been one of the "threats" which upset Russia to the point at which it attacked Ukraine militarily and on a large scale, starting over two years ago.

This is despite the fact that Ukraine's reserves, at a little over 1,100 cubic kilometers, while second in Europe only to Norway's 1,550 or so cubic kilometer reserves, are dwarfed by Russia's nearly 48,000 cubic kilometers of untapped natural gas.

Kadri Simson holds the energy portfolio at the commission; her term ends later this year, after June's European Parliament elections.

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