The European Union will exempt Greek Dynagas from the latest sanctions package for Russia after pressure from the Greek government, which said the package would harm the country’s economy.
The package, set to be voted on today, includes a ban on LNG shipments to third countries and a total ban on LNG purchases by EU entities. However, with several EU member states now complaining about the adverse effects of these sanctions on their economies, Brussels has been placed in a position to negotiate some concessions.
In Greece’s case, it agreed to protect gas major Dynagas with the allowance to continue shipping Russian liquefied gas to third parties for a 12-month period following the entry into effect of the latest sanctions, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed diplomats. The 12-month exemption period can be renewed.
However, there will be a cap on volumes that the Greek gas shipper would be allowed to transport to third countries, and that cap would be equal to the volumes transported in 2025, the FT sources told the publication.
Dynagas operates 27 gas carriers, including a third of the Arc7 tankers that service the Yamal LNG plant, from which the European Union has been buying record volumes of liquefied gas. The latest data, for the first half of the year, showed that EU purchases of Yamal LNG rose by 16% on the year to an all-time high of 9.97 million tons. That also represents as much as 97% of the Yamal LNG plant output for the period.
The EU may be hard-pressed to find alternatives to Russian LNG after the ban comes into effect, after QatarEnergy extended this week its force majeure on Ras Laffan until October, per a Bloomberg report from Wednesday. The force majeure of the world’s second-largest LNG exporter has already led to a surge in prices. Now, the extension would also automatically extend the period of elevated prices for the superchilled fuel just as the EU races to refill its storage caverns ahead of next winter.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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