The European Parliament's industry committee will vote on 16 October on amendments to the RePowerEU regulation that would halt Russian oil and petroleum-product imports from the start of 2026 and ban all gas flows a year later, Bloomberg reported on 3 October, citing people familiar with the matter.
The proposed timeline accelerates the European Commission's original plan, which envisioned stopping Moscow's piped-gas flows at the end of 2027. The move has garnered support from members of several political groups across the parliament, according to the sources who requested anonymity as negotiations remain private.
"The global gas market is expected to start shifting into a surplus in the second half of next year, reducing the risk that an EU phaseout would put pressure on supplies and drive up prices," Bloomberg reported.
This market outlook has helped secure broad political support for a comprehensive break with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Under the proposed amendments, new gas purchases would be prohibited from the start of 2026, while existing short-term contracts would be exempted until mid-June 2026 and long-term contracts until 1 January 2027.
The initiative differs from the EU's sanctions packages in a crucial way: while sanctions are temporary by design, RePowerEU represents a separate, longer-term plan to permanently cut reliance on Moscow. The phaseout would align the end of piped-gas imports with the halt to seaborne deliveries already outlined in the EU's proposed sanctions package.
In its original proposal, the European Commission stopped short of setting a firm date to phase out oil, instead requiring member states to prepare diversification plans. The 16 October vote would change that by establishing a concrete deadline at the start of 2026.
The EU has significantly reduced oil and gas purchases from Moscow since 2022, but the bloc still receives approximately 15% of its liquefied natural gas from Russia, making the country its second-largest supplier after the United States. Monthly payments range between €500 million ($587 million) and €700 million, according to Bloomberg.
Hungary and Slovakia present a particular challenge. Russian crude flows to these countries via the Druzhba pipeline averaged about 220,000 barrels per day in total in the first half of this year, according to Bloomberg calculations. The European Commission plans to impose tariffs on these remaining imports if they're not phased out. Budapest and Bratislava have resisted diversification efforts and blocked measures they claim endanger their energy security.
RePowerEU is currently being debated in two parallel tracks: by the parliament and by member states. Once each agrees on a negotiating position, talks with the commission will begin to finalize the regulation.
The procedural path differs from the sanctions package tabled last month. While sanctions require unanimous approval by all 27 EU member states, the RePowerEU measure needs only qualified-majority backing in the EU Council and majority support in the parliament.
The EU declined to comment on draft rules, maintaining its long-standing policy on proposals under negotiation.