Trafigura Signs New Gas Supply Deal with German SEFE

Trafigura has signed a $1.5 billion five-year loan agreement that will back a contract for the commodity trading giant to supply more than 150 TWh of natural gas to Germany’s state-owned gas importer Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) over the next five years.

Trafigura’s current deal with SEFE expires at the end of October. The trading group will supply SEFE from its global gas portfolio under the new contract, with the first delivery scheduled for November 1, 2026.

Annual volumes of gas will increase to 30 TWh in the new five-year deal, up from about 23 TWh per year in the expiring contract, SEFE said.

Trafigura’s loan agreement is partly supported by a guarantee under the Untied Loan Guarantee (UFK) of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, acting through the German ECA Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft. The program is a tool to secure the long-term delivery of strategic commodities to Germany.

Commenting on the new deal, SEFE’s chief commercial officer, Frédéric Barnaud, said, “Such partnerships strengthen our ability to source natural gas from a broad range of origins and reinforce our position as a reliable energy provider for our German and European customers.”

Germany is scrambling to build gas reserves ahead of the winter amid historically low volumes of gas in its storage sites.

As of October 28, gas storage sites in the EU were only 75% full, per data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

But Germany’s vast storage, the world’s fourth-largest, is just below 62% full now, which has prompted concerns about supply security if the coming winter turns out much colder than previous winters.

Thanks to diversified import capabilities, Germany doesn’t face a gas supply shortage despite record-low levels of natural gas in storage sites, one of the biggest German gas importers, VNG, said at the end of last month.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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