Energy ministers from Belgium, France and Spain, whose ports receive shipments from Russian LNG tankers, have insisted that very little of the gas arriving is used domestically and that most is piped on to other EU countries. In November, Germany ordered its state-operated import terminals to reject any Russian LNG cargoes.

Germany's imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) via other EU countries continue to rise despite efforts to cut off direct shipments, the Financial Times wrote on Jan. 28, citing a report by Belgian,

The world's imports of liquefied natural gas are set to jump to the highest in a year in January as Europe's winter demand draws cargoes away from top-consuming region Asia.