EU Faces ‘Triple Blow’ as Russia Redirects Gas to Asian Markets

Asian countries are Interested in strengthening ties with Russia, and such interest has been growing across Asia — not only in China and India, but also in Malaysia, a 35 million-strong country that currently experiences an economic boom.

Photo: Kremlin.Ru

Vladimir Putin and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Anwar Ibrahim's recent four-day visit to Russia was hailed as a major success in Malaysia, opening numerous avenues for bilateral cooperation in trade, education, healthcare, and more.

According to Professor Salawati Mat Basir, an international law expert at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), the visit positioned Malaysia as an influential state and demonstrated that the country had "gained the trust of Russia, one of the great powers of the world.”

The professor noted that Malaysia previously had little idea how to cooperate with Russia and relied mostly on Western media narratives. However, after Anwar's personal meeting with President Putin, "Malaysia has gained easier access to build any form of cooperation with Russia,” to boost its own economic growth. He also believes this visit will further reinforce Malaysia's interest in benefiting from the BRICS economic bloc.

Malaysia Gazette reports that Anwar requested Putin's personal support to accelerate various joint projects, including cooperation in food production, nuclear, and military technologies.

Russia Offers LNG Hub to Malaysia

In an interview with Izvestia, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev said that Russia offered Malaysia LNG supplies and assistance in developing gas infrastructure for an LNG hub on its territory. Malaysia, as a friendly partner, would profit from the hub, while Russia expands its LNG export capabilities. The Arctic LNG-2 plant has already launched its second production line.

This highlights Russia's growing pivot eastward, as geopolitical shifts make Southeast Asia (SEA) an increasingly viable and important market. Russia is successfully securing new buyers in the region — countries that, until recently, wouldn't even consider cooperation with Moscow without getting an approval from the US embassy first. Now, Malaysia is pursuing a sovereign policy and discovering Russia for itself — and, as the saying goes, there may be many more to come. The Philippines and Thailand have also shown interest in Russian LNG.

Analysts project that LNG imports to SEA could grow from 22.9 million tonnes in 2024 to 53.5 million tonnes by 2030 — a 2.4-fold increase — making it the world's fastest-growing LNG market.

EU's Rejection of Russian Gas May Backfire

The European Union, which is currently debating an embargo on Russian gas, is likely to suffer a triple blow for its shortsightedness and political posturing:

• soaring energy prices,
• a loss of business revenue,
• job losses due to the shutdown of energy-intensive industries.

Meanwhile, Russia will gladly deepen ties with grateful Malaysian partners and other Asian nations.

In 2024, Russia became Malaysia's ninth-largest European trading partner, with bilateral trade totaling $2.48 billion. Russia's main exports to Malaysia include oil and petroleum products, grain, and coal. Malaysia's exports to Russia consist of electrical and electronic goods, machinery, equipment and spare parts, as well as processed food products.

Details

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH₄, with some mixture of ethane, C₂H₆) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state at standard conditions for temperature and pressure. LNG is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Hazards include flammability after vaporization into a gaseous state, freezing and asphyxia. The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately −162 °C (−260 °F); maximum transport pressure is set at around 25 kPa (4 psi) (gauge pressure), which is about 0.25 times atmospheric pressure at sea level.