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European Energy Markets
18JUN

Where the 2027 Russian-gas repricing sits

2 min read
09:57UTC

ACER's report maps 45 to 55 bcm a year of authorised Russian contracts still flowing into named importers, with the full LNG and pipeline ban deferred to November 2027.

EconomicDeveloping
Key takeaway

The 2027 bite is 45 to 55 bcm of authorised contracts rolling off, concentrated in named importers.

ACER's monitoring report maps 45 to 55 bcm a year of authorised long-term Russian contracts still running, and it names where they land. Pipeline deliveries of 16 to 26 bcm a year continue into Hungary, Slovakia and Greece; LNG cargoes of 20 to 32 bcm a year come ashore in Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The full LNG and pipeline bans take effect only in November 2027.

These are the deals the March short-term ban never touched. Regulation (EU) 2026/261 grandfathered long-term contracts and six origins to keep the pipeline-dependent members onside , so the volume that actually matters was always going to survive to the full cutoff. The mid-June step-down faded within a day for the same reason: the contracts carrying the bulk of the gas were never in its scope.

For a desk pricing forward risk, the map turns a vague policy worry into a sized, dated catalyst. The repricing concentrates in a handful of named importers rather than spreading across the whole curve, and it sits roughly eighteen months out. Frontloading now pulls volumes forward, so the physical tightening in 2027 may bite faster than a straight-line contract run-off would imply.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Even though the EU's gas ban started in March, ACER's new report shows a big chunk of Russian gas deliveries are protected until November 2027. That's because some buyers, including Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and France, signed long-term contracts years ago that the ban was written to leave alone. Think of it like a mobile phone contract: you can't just cancel it early without a penalty. The EU chose not to force early cancellation, so those contracts simply run until they expire naturally in under 18 months.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The exempted volumes sit inside contracts signed years before Regulation (EU) 2026/261 existed, most carrying take-or-pay clauses that impose penalty payments on the buyer for early termination. Overriding those contracts legislatively, rather than simply banning new ones, would expose the EU to compensation claims from counterparties in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and elsewhere.

That legal cost, not political will, is why the ban's architects chose a long runway to November 2027 instead of an immediate cutoff: the contracts expire on their own commercial terms by then, avoiding a termination dispute entirely.

What could happen next?
  • Risk

    Forward gas curves for Hungarian, Slovak and Greek pipeline delivery and Iberian, French and Benelux LNG delivery in winter 2027-28 do not yet price a coordinated supply step-change.

First Reported In

Update #23 · The EU's own regulator says the ban isn't biting

ACER· 3 Jul 2026
Read original
Causes and effects
This Event
Where the 2027 Russian-gas repricing sits
The report gives desks pricing forward Russian-gas risk a named, sized trigger: 45 to 55 bcm of authorised contracts rolling off in 2027, not a diffuse policy fear.
Different Perspectives
Cross-border power traders
Cross-border power traders
The France-Germany day-ahead spread flipped from a EUR 17.20 German premium on 1 August to a EUR 4.15 French premium on 3 August, the same day French curtailment peaked. They cannot yet attribute the flip to curtailment alone, since a like-for-like overnight comparison shows French nuclear output rising while wind fell and demand returned on the weekday step.
EDF
EDF
River-cooling limits took 7.6 GW, 12 per cent of its fleet, offline on 3 August, the highest curtailment since the heatwave began, with an easing forecast to 4.3 GW on 4 August and 3 GW after. It manages the cut as a recurring seasonal constraint, expecting it to lift with river temperature, not repair.
Gasunie
Gasunie
TTF, the Dutch hub it operates, drifted to roughly EUR 55 to 58 per MWh across the window, staying inside its recent range through both the German spark reversal and the French curtailment. It reads a flat hub price as evidence that neither event this window carried enough weight to move the fuel leg on its own.
German gas-fired generators
German gas-fired generators
Record German solar of 18,761 MW on 2 August pushed the clean spark spread to minus 18.48 EUR/MWh, a loss-making day, before it returned to plus 16.20 on 3 August. They now price dispatch against post-solar residual load rather than wind alone, since the sign flipped inside 48 hours on unchanged fuel and carbon costs.
European Commission (DG Energy)
European Commission (DG Energy)
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Spain's LNG terminal operators
Spain's LNG terminal operators
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