With piped gas supplies cut off after the war, imports of LNG from Moscow increased to around 18 billion cubic meters in 2023 from less than 14 billion cubic meters before the attack, according to EU data.

Gazprom, which holds about 16% of global gas reserves and employs 492,200 people, was once one of Russia's most powerful corporate empires - so powerful it was known as "a state within the state".

There is a growing political focus on the need to develop renewables, with countries agreeing at the COP28 climate summit in December to work towards tripling capacity to 11,000GW by 2030. 

Production decreased 0.4% in March, led by drops in consumer and intermediate goods, and energy, the statistics office said Wednesday.

It trails China and the US in areas such as manufacturing of clean technologies thanks to a mix of burdensome regulations and higher energy prices. Electricity prices in the EU are typically twice to three times higher than in the US.

Worries include uncertainty over remaining Russian flows through Ukraine and rebounding gas demand in Asia. A colder-than-normal winter spurring consumption at home is also seen as more likely after two consecutive mild ones.

The capacity for transmitting electricity to Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy has been reduced since early March, according to French power-grid operator RTE. That’s depriving those nations of exports of cheaper French nuclear power and boosting wholesale prices across the region.

"If Europe is still importing LNG from Russia, it is because there is a need," a France-based gas trader said. "With our other main suppliers, such as Norway, operating at maximum capacity, it will be hard to completely stop the flow of Russian LNG. We are still not completely out of the crisis."

Russia’s gas-transit agreement with Ukraine also expires at the end of the year, and there’s little clarity as of now if these volumes will still find their way to Europe.

The government on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for this year to 0.2% from 1.3%, after a contraction in 2023.