Yes, the EU Really Did Surge LNG Imports from the US and Others After 2022 — Here's the Scale

The claim that the EU has increased LNG imports from alternative suppliers since 2022 is true — and the scale of the shift is striking. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe moved fast to cut its dependence on Russian pipeline gas, and LNG from new partners filled much of the gap.

The numbers tell a clear story. According to the International Energy Agency's Gas Market Report 2023, EU LNG imports rose by approximately 60% in 2022 compared to 2021. The United States drove much of that growth. Reuters reported that the US became Europe's top LNG supplier in 2022, a position it held into 2023. Eurostat and European Commission data show US LNG going from a relatively minor share of EU supply to roughly 40-50% of all LNG imports by 2023 — up from around 22 billion cubic meters in 2021 to roughly 60 billion cubic meters in 2023.

The policy engine behind this was the EU's REPowerEU plan, launched in May 2022. The European Commission explicitly targeted LNG deals with the US, Norway, Qatar, Algeria, and others as a way to replace Russian volumes quickly. The Bruegel think tank's ongoing dataset on European gas imports confirms the dramatic reshaping of supply chains, with Russian pipeline gas falling sharply while LNG from multiple alternative sources rose to compensate.

To be fair to the full picture: LNG is more expensive and more carbon-intensive to ship than pipeline gas, and critics have raised legitimate concerns about locking in long-term fossil fuel infrastructure. The EU's own green energy goals create real tension with this rapid LNG expansion. But on the narrow factual question of whether imports from alternative suppliers increased — the evidence is overwhelming and consistent across multiple independent sources.

This claim spreads easily because it is accurate and fits a well-documented geopolitical story. The main thing to watch for is exaggeration around what this shift means long-term — whether it represents a permanent structural change or a bridge while renewables scale up remains genuinely contested.