Metlen Chief: Europe Should Keep Buying Russian Gas to Lower Prices

Metlen Energy & Metals CEO Evangelos Mytilineos has said Europe should continue buying Russian gas to help bring down rising energy prices. In an interview with The Times, the head of the Greek energy, metals and defense conglomerate — which entered the FTSE 100 after moving its primary listing to London in August 2025 — said the European Union’s planned bans on Russian gas imports would worsen the energy crisis facing the continent.

“We should be very concerned about this winter,” said Mytilineos, suggesting that the main risk for Europe is not a physical gas shortage but a price shock: “European countries are rich enough to pay any price to get gas, but poorer countries like Bangladesh and others cannot.” Metlen is the largest independent importer, consumer and supplier of gas in Southeast Europe.

According to him, the European gas market is “tight” due to low storage levels, while the war in Ukraine has significantly reduced supplies from Russia and the war in the Persian Gulf has removed supplies from Qatar. High prices also reflect the EU’s decision to ban imports of Russian LNG from January 2027 and pipeline gas from October next year.

Although Brussels aims to break away from Russian energy, Russia still accounted for around 12 percent of the EU’s total gas imports in 2025, and Metlen reportedly still continues to buy Russian pipeline gas. Mytilineos argues that removing this supply would push prices even higher for European consumers.

In the same interview, Mytilineos also commented on the business climate in Britain, saying companies are leaving for the United States because the United Kingdom has not yet decided whether it wants to be “socialist or capitalist.” He called on the British prime minister to cut taxes to restore the City of London’s fortunes and defended Metlen’s unusual corporate governance changes.

Source: The Times