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The European Union is negotiating a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas exports in its latest sanctions package, bolstering U.S. actions to restrict Russia’s fossil fuel revenue, slow construction of new LNG terminals, and upend its ability to export the chilled gas to buyers overseas.
The crackdown on Russian LNG comes as Western leaders search for a way to more aggressively restrict Russia’s energy revenues, which provide funding for its war in Ukraine. In the more than two years since Russia’s invasion, the West has passed dozens of sanctions packages and bans on Russian oil and gas, including a G7 effort to cap prices for Russian crude oil.
Despite this, Russia has continued to see large profits from its energy exports due in part to higher global demand for oil and gas and its ability to evade the oil price cap.
In April, Russian oil and gas revenue climbed to $126 billion, more than doubling the earnings from the same period last year, underscoring the frustration and sense of urgency for Western leaders to act.
As a result, the West is now looking to the country’s burgeoning LNG export sector as an opportunity to enact pai …