Russia's liquefied natural gas exports are near a record high, as the realities of a harsh winter eat away at countries' promises to curb their dependence on Moscow

Europe wants to replace piped natural gas from Russia with Liquefied Natural Gas, orLNG, in order to end dependence on Russia for energy. Russia's energy coffers can be affected by doing this.

The EU might end up replacing piped Russian gas with imported Russian Liquefied Natural Gas if it goes ahead with the project because Moscow is a major exporter.

In October, exports of Russian Liquefied Natural Gas, the super-cooled version of natural gas that can be transported by ships, rose for the first time in six months. France, China, and Japan were the top three countries that imported.

As European demand for natural gas tends to surge as the bloc heads into winter, some of the supply may have made its way to other EU countries.

The data from the Europe Commission shows that in the first nine months of the year, shipments from Russia to the EU increased by 42%.

The war in Ukraine caused Russia to slow the supply of gas to the European Union. The supply of natural gas from Russia to Germany has been disrupted.

The EU's piped gas imports are only a fraction of the imported LNG. Russian piped gas was imported by the EU in the first nine months of the year.

The EU snapping up Russian gas still puts it at risk from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Diego Rivera Rivota, researchers at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, wrote on September 27 that Russia could now use gas as a weapon and that they should cancel contracts with countries that don't like them.

There is a risk of energy supplies being used as a political tool of blackmail in the current geopolitics.