Despite Brussels’ best efforts to shift away from Russian fuel, the region has so far failed to completely shake off its dependence on Russia for a vital source of energy, even though pipeline flows have all but stopped, The Financial Times reports.

Imports of Russian liquefied natural gas transported by tankers rose by more than 40% between January and October this year compared with the same period in 2021. Russian LNG accounted for 16% of European seaborne imports during that period, or 17.8 billion cubic meters out of a total share of 62.1 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas flows during that time.

Europe’s fear, however, is that one day Russia will stop supplying LNG altogether, forcing the region to buy gas on the even more expensive spot market. Instead, Russia will simply divert LNG to countries that lack it and cannot afford it, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, at low prices.

Gas flows through the Yamal pipeline through Poland have stopped since May, and flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany also stopped in the summer. The pipeline was later blown up. Russia may also restrict gas supplies to Western Europe through its only pipeline through Ukraine. Pipeline gas supplies to Europe from Russia are down nearly 80 percent this year compared to the same period last year. Most of Russia’s LNG flows to Europe through the Yamal LNG joint venture, which is majority owned by Russia’s Novatek, with other stakes held by France’s Total, China’s CNPC and a Chinese state-owned fund. Russia’s Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) owns just under 10% of Novatek (MCX:NVTK).

In the absence of Russian gas, Europe, which imported 155 billion cubic meters of gas from the country last year, including LNG, has started buying on the international market. It imported 111 billion cubic meters of LNG between January and October, nearly 70% more than last year, according to Refinitiv. France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands accounted for the lion’s share of shipments. Europe mainly imported more US LNG, which accounted for 42%. Qatar was the third largest LNG supplier to Europe with a 13.7% share.