France is on track to import a record amount of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) this year, even as overall LNG imports across Europe are declining, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
So far in 2024, France has already imported more LNG from Russia’s Yamal export plant than in any other year since shipments began six years ago, Bloomberg’s data shows.
One of the main points of entry for Russian LNG into France is the Dunkirk terminal, which has seen a sharp increase in shipments. This surge is partly due to deliveries from Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE), a state-owned German company. SEFE inherited a contract from Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, to deliver LNG from Yamal to Dunkirk. The German government took control of SEFE in 2022 after Gazprom’s assets in Germany were nationalized following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry told Bloomberg that SEFE is continuing to fulfill the Yamal contract to minimize Russia’s gains from the arrangement.
Despite fulfilling this contract, SEFE has never delivered Russian LNG to Germany, company spokesman Jan-Peter Haack confirmed to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced last week that Germany’s economy ministry had instructed operators of LNG import terminals to reject shipments of Russian LNG. This move is part of Germany’s broader strategy to reduce dependence on Russian energy, which runs counter to the purpose of establishing LNG terminals in the first place. According to a report by the Financial Times, Germany’s economy ministry sent a letter to Deutsche Energy Terminal advising it to refuse any LNG deliveries from Russia, after learning that a Russian cargo was scheduled to arrive.
Russian LNG made up 20% of the European Union’s LNG imports during the first nine months of 2024, up from 14% during the same period last year, despite a significant drop in overall LNG imports across the EU, a report from the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) revealed last month.
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