Germany and the EU no longer want gas sales to finance Putin’s war. But with liquefied natural gas the determination ends. This goes further into the EU, and Germany even makes money from exports.
The “Amur River” is a ship of the so-called ice class, equipped for particularly rough sea routes. It belongs to a “fleet of ultra-modern LNG tankers”, writes the company that controls these ships on its website. The “Amur River” is currently off the Belgian coast and within a few days it will be able to collect Russian LNG, that is, liquefied natural gas, at the port of Zeebrugge and bring it to India.
So much for a completely normal occurrence in the global energy market? No way. The “Amur River” belongs to the company SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe), which was originally part of the Russian gas company Gazprom as Gazprom Germania, but was nationalized by the federal government after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The declared aim of the coalition in Berlin is to be independent of Russia’s gas and oil and thus stop filling Vladimir Putin’s war chest. But the current case of the “Amur River” is an example of how difficult it is to reconcile political demands and reality.
Economically necessary?
Why does a company owned by the German state participate in the Russian gas trade? The company refers to an agreement concluded in 2012 regarding purchase and delivery obligations. According to SEFE, the quantities delivered would have to be paid for even if they were not accepted and transported to India: “Such an approach would not be economically justifiable”. Eight more deliveries are expected in the current financial year.
When asked, the responsible Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that it could not comment on operational business or contractual agreements. However, the import of Russian LNG into Europe is not sanctioned, nor is the international transport and sale of LNG. German ports or terminals are not affected.
Philipp Steinberg, department head at the Habeck Ministry, writes on the short message service X: “It is an old contract that SEFE has tried to get rid of in various ways.” Certain facts must be dealt with, regardless of “it has to be finished as quickly as possible”.
From Zeebrugge to Germany
Even if in this case Russian LNG does not enter the EU’s gas networks and therefore not Germany, that is exactly what happens – and not rarely. Tankers from Russia regularly arrive in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and deliver much sought-after liquefied natural gas. In Belgium, there is not even three percent of this left. Much of it goes to Germany.
The Belgian Energy Minister regrets this, but also states in an interview with the newspaper “De Standaard”: “With the role of Zeebrugge, Belgium shows solidarity with other European countries”.
Most of the revenue comes from Russia – for example, from Novatek, which only opened a new large-scale LNG plant in March. President Putin himself visited. LNG instead of pipeline gas is now the motto.
Profits are increasing, also due to demand from EU countries, which currently buy 52% of Russian LNG. Putin considers LNG projects extremely important. They would allow us to capture important parts of the global LNG market.
Russia’s energy reserves and exports continue to delight the Russian president – including here during a visit to a Novotk accuser near Murmansk.
Just four percent – or another four percent?
The current largest LNG market for Russia remains the EU. The Bruegel research institute in Brussels analyzes gas deliveries daily. According to this, Germany still gets four percent of its gas from Russia. Numbers like these are ultimately estimates.
The environmental organization Global Witness assumes that the EU will spend billions on Russian LNG this year alone. Andreas Schröder, market analyst at ICIS, says: “By importing Russian liquefied natural gas, the EU is, of course, also indirectly financing a Russian war.” Although Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has drastically decreased, Russia continues to benefit from expensive LNG gas.
Not on the sanctions lists
There are no legal objections to these transactions: EU states included components for Russian LNG plants in their lists at the beginning of their fifth sanctions package. However, they cannot or do not want to do without the gas that comes from these plants.
Is everything okay with the federal government? Recently, when asked about LNG imports from Russia, a spokesman for the Habeck Ministry said: “It is true that we do not believe in importing Russian gas to Germany, even as LNG. But as I said: contracts have been concluded by companies.”
When questioned, the federal government now underlines that in the LNG contracts “for the state-funded German LNG terminals”, the supplying companies have committed not to import liquefied natural gas from Russia. “According to our information”, states the ministry, this voluntary commitment is being fulfilled. So “no Russian LNG” ends there.
With regard to LNG imports from Russia through Belgium, the ministry stated that it “could not provide any information on LNG terminals in other countries, nor on the issue of onward transportation of LNG from these ports and therefore not on the question of whether Russian LNG is thus indirectly imported into the country “German lands”. The federal government has “no knowledge” of these “private law contractual agreements”.
Money continues to flow into Russia
Consultant Jan Haizmann, who has worked in the gas industry for decades, assumes that Russian gas is “still of considerable importance for large parts of Europe” and will also continue to play a role for Germany “for some years to come”. And the long-term agreement between Russia and India, which the German company SEFE may conclude soon, will be completed by 2040.
Despite all the statements that Putin no longer wants to pour money into his coffers to buy gas, this would only end in the short term if politicians resorted to other means.
What is LNG?
LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is the name for liquefied natural gas. To obtain LNG, natural gas is cleaned of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon dioxide and cooled to temperatures as low as -162°C. This liquefies it. This process reduces the volume by 600 times, allowing large quantities of the liquefied energy source to be stored and transported. LNG is colorless, odorless and non-toxic. It can be used wherever normal natural gas is used. To do this, it is brought back to the gaseous state.