Germany and the EU no longer want gas sales to finance Putin’s war. But with LPG the determination ends. This comes further into the EU, and Germany even earns 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 lying off the Belgian coast, and in a few days it could pick up Russian LNG, i.e. liquid natural gas, in the port of Zeebrugge and bring it to India.
So much for a completely normal occurrence on the global energy market? Not at all. 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.
It is the declared goal of the coalition in Berlin to be independent of gas and oil from Russia and thus no longer fill 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 is a company owned by the German state participating in a trade in Russian gas? The company refers to an agreement concluded in 2012, to purchase and delivery obligations. According to SEFE, the delivery quantities 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 for the current financial year.
When asked, the responsible Federal Ministry of Economics stated that it could not comment on operational business or contractual arrangements. However, the import of Russian LNG to Europe is not sanctioned, nor is the international onward transport and sale of LNG. German ports or terminals are not affected.
Philipp Steinberg, head of department in 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 have to be dealt with, regardless of the fact that it “has to be ended as quickly as possible”.
From Zeebrugge to Germany
Even if in this case Russian LNG does not come into the EU gas networks and therefore not into Germany, that is exactly what happens – and not infrequently. Tankers from Russia regularly arrive in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and deliver the sought-after liquid gas. In Belgium, not even three percent of this remains. A large part goes on to Germany.
The Belgian Energy Minister regrets this, but also says in an interview with the newspaper “De Standaard”: “With the role of Zeebrugge, Belgium is showing solidarity with other European countries.”
The majority of the income comes from Russia – for example at Novatek, which only inaugurated 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 percent of Russian LNG. Putin calls the LNG projects extremely important. They would make it possible to capture important shares of the global LNG market.
Russia’s energy reserves and their exports continue to delight the Russian president – including here during a visit to a Novotk accuser near Murmansk.
Only four percent – or another four percent?
The currently largest LNG market for Russia is still the EU. The Bruegel research institute in Brussels analyzes gas deliveries every day. 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 liquid gas, the EU is of course also indirectly financing a Russian war.” Although Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has drastically reduced, Russia continues to benefit from expensive LNG gas.
Not on Sanctions lists
There is no legal objection to these transactions: the EU states included components for Russian LNG plants on their lists early on in their fifth sanctions package. However, they cannot or do not want to do without the gas that comes from these plants.
Is this all okay for 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: the contracts have been concluded by the companies. ”
When asked, the federal government now emphasizes that in LNG contracts “for the German, state-financed LNG terminals”, the supplying companies have committed themselves not to import liquefied gas from Russia. “According to our information,” says the ministry, this voluntary commitment is being adhered to. So “no Russian LNG” ends up there.
With regard to LNG imports from Russia via Belgium, the ministry stated that it could “not provide any information about LNG terminals in other countries or on the question of onward transport of LNG from these ports and therefore not on the question of whether Russian LNG is thereby indirectly imported into the country “Germany lands”. The federal government has “no insight” into these “private law contractual arrangements”.
Money continues to flow to Russia
Consultant Jan Haizmann, who has been working 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 a few years.” And the long-term agreement between Russia and India, which the German company SEFE may soon complete, is concluded until 2040.
Despite all the statements that Putin no longer wants to pour money into his coffers for 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 liquid natural gas. To obtain LNG, natural gas is cleaned of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon dioxide and cooled to temperatures as low as minus 162°C. This liquefies it. This process reduces the volume by 600 times, allowing very 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 into a gaseous state.