Germany boosts imports of Russian LNG via EU ports, according to a report
According to a report, indirect shipments of Russian liquefied natural gas in the EU have been rapidly increasing. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Germany has increased its purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) through other EU countries, despite previously ceasing direct imports of the fuel, as indicated by a recent report.
The analysis, which was jointly released on Tuesday by Belgian, German, and Ukrainian NGOs, reveals that the German state-owned energy firm SEFE secured 58 shipments of Russian LNG through the French port of Dunkirk in 2024, amounting to 4.1 million tons—over six times the volume imported in the previous year.
Estimates indicate that between 3% and 9.2% of Germany’s gas supply still comes from Russia, albeit routed through other EU nations.
SEFE, formerly known as Gazprom Germania and a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, holds a long-term contract for LNG supplies from Russia’s Yamal export facility. According to the contract, SEFE has been directing almost all of its cargoes to an import terminal in France, where the LNG is re-gasified and integrated into the interconnected European gas pipeline system. In November, Germany instructed its state-operated import terminals to completely reject Russian LNG shipments.
“Germany has banned the import of Russian LNG at its ports, but imports officially sourced from France and Belgium actually include Russian LNG, effectively whitewashing the gas,” stated Angelos Koutsis, energy policy officer at the Belgian think tank Bond Beter Leefmilieu, one of the report's co-authors.
“The result is that all countries involved can claim they are not responsible for the growing demand for Russian LNG,” he added.
Energy ministers from Belgium, France, and Spain—countries that receive shipments of Russian LNG—have contended that most of the gas is not consumed domestically but instead sent to other EU nations, as reported by the Financial Times.
The report noted that the lack of transparency within the EU’s internal gas market has led to “finger-pointing among member states,” highlighting the challenges in tracing the exact volume of Russian LNG in the European system.
According to the report, overall EU imports of Russian LNG reached record levels in 2024, increasing by over 19% year-on-year.
Germany has depended on affordable Russian energy for more than two decades. Before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the EU’s largest economy sourced 40% of its gas imports from Russia and was among the most adversely affected in the bloc due to supply cuts.
While pipeline gas imports from Russia have largely stopped due to restrictions following the Ukraine conflict and the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, EU nations have continued to purchase significant volumes of LNG from the sanctioned country.
In June, the European Commission focused on imports of the super-chilled fuel for the first time, imposing bans on re-loading operations, ship-to-ship transfers, and ship-to-shore transfers with the aim of re-exporting to third countries via the EU. These sanctions come with a nine-month transition period.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
The analysis, which was jointly released on Tuesday by Belgian, German, and Ukrainian NGOs, reveals that the German state-owned energy firm SEFE secured 58 shipments of Russian LNG through the French port of Dunkirk in 2024, amounting to 4.1 million tons—over six times the volume imported in the previous year.
Estimates indicate that between 3% and 9.2% of Germany’s gas supply still comes from Russia, albeit routed through other EU nations.
SEFE, formerly known as Gazprom Germania and a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, holds a long-term contract for LNG supplies from Russia’s Yamal export facility. According to the contract, SEFE has been directing almost all of its cargoes to an import terminal in France, where the LNG is re-gasified and integrated into the interconnected European gas pipeline system. In November, Germany instructed its state-operated import terminals to completely reject Russian LNG shipments.
“Germany has banned the import of Russian LNG at its ports, but imports officially sourced from France and Belgium actually include Russian LNG, effectively whitewashing the gas,” stated Angelos Koutsis, energy policy officer at the Belgian think tank Bond Beter Leefmilieu, one of the report's co-authors.
“The result is that all countries involved can claim they are not responsible for the growing demand for Russian LNG,” he added.
Energy ministers from Belgium, France, and Spain—countries that receive shipments of Russian LNG—have contended that most of the gas is not consumed domestically but instead sent to other EU nations, as reported by the Financial Times.
The report noted that the lack of transparency within the EU’s internal gas market has led to “finger-pointing among member states,” highlighting the challenges in tracing the exact volume of Russian LNG in the European system.
According to the report, overall EU imports of Russian LNG reached record levels in 2024, increasing by over 19% year-on-year.
Germany has depended on affordable Russian energy for more than two decades. Before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the EU’s largest economy sourced 40% of its gas imports from Russia and was among the most adversely affected in the bloc due to supply cuts.
While pipeline gas imports from Russia have largely stopped due to restrictions following the Ukraine conflict and the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, EU nations have continued to purchase significant volumes of LNG from the sanctioned country.
In June, the European Commission focused on imports of the super-chilled fuel for the first time, imposing bans on re-loading operations, ship-to-ship transfers, and ship-to-shore transfers with the aim of re-exporting to third countries via the EU. These sanctions come with a nine-month transition period.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
