EU LNG imports hit record high in 2025 – ACER warns of growing exposure to global market risks

ACER has published its 2026 Monitoring Report on European liquefied natural gas (LNG) market developments, reviewing key market trends in 2025 and the implications for Europe’s energy security, including the risks linked to tensions in the Middle East.

Worth highlighting, given there is much talk of EU data gaps, that ACER has the overview of EU LNG market. This annual ACER report shows that LNG has become central to the EU gas system as Europe continues to move away from Russian gas. At the same time, it highlights growing exposure to global LNG market risks, including supply concentration, spot market volatility and geopolitical disruptions.

Main highlights

• The EU imported a record 146 bcm of LNG in 2025, confirming LNG’s key role in Europe’s gas supply. The EU is the world's largest importer of LNG.
• Global LNG production increased by 36 bcm, the strongest annual growth since 2022.
• The United States supplied 58% of EU LNG imports in 2025, equivalent to around a quarter of total EU gas demand.
• ACER’s daily LNG price assessments (based exclusively on actual spot transactions) provide much needed transparency on the EU LNG spot price discovery. More than 980 spot LNG cargoes for delivery in the EU in 2025 were reported to ACER in 2025, up from 550 transactions in 2024.
• TTF, the Dutch gas trading hub, remained the main benchmark, used to price 74% of EU spot LNG trades.
• In a full-year Strait of Hormuz closure scenario in 2026, the global LNG market could face a net supply shortfall of 27 bcm compared with 2025, intensifying competition for spot cargoes.

ACER’s recommendations

Recent tensions in the Middle East show how quickly geopolitical crises can disrupt energy flows and drive up prices. In response, ACER underlines the continued strategic importance of REPowerEU and its three pillars for Europe’s energy security:

• Energy savings and efficiency, to reduce gas demand and lower vulnerability to external shocks.
• Diversification of supply sources, to avoid overreliance on individual suppliers or transit routes.
• Faster roll-out of renewable energy, to strengthen resilience by reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels.

For punchy overview of related issues like the impact of Hormuz on EU gas storage filling for winter 2026, see also the recent ACER key developments in European gas markets report (April 2026).