Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Spain intends to comply with the European Union’s ban on importing Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 1 January 2027 despite long-term contracts held by Spanish companies, according to TASS, the Russian state news agency, which carried his remarks at an Atlantic Council event in Washington.

“LNG supply contracts are concluded years in advance. These are very long-term contracts. This is not something that can be decided at the last minute,” Albares said. He added that Spain has one of Europe’s largest LNG storage and processing capacities and that this “opens up opportunities for the rest of Europe,” which Madrid can supply with LNG from “reliable partners, such as the United States.” The European ban on Russian LNG imports takes effect on 1 January 2027 for long-term contracts, and the ban on pipeline gas on 30 September 2027; the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), in a 2026 report, records that Russian LNG imports rose 17% year-on-year between 18 March and the end of May 2026, despite the ban on short-term contracts in force since 25 April.