France imports record volumes of Russian LNG: German company helps

France imported 5.34 million tons of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the first 10 months of 2024.

This is the highest figure since supplies began in 2018, Bloomberg reports.

The increase in imports is explained by the fulfillment of long-term contracts for the supply of Russian gas from the Yamal LNG project for France’s Total Energies, Spain’s Naturgy Energy Group SA and Germany’s Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE). Supplies to the Dunkirk terminal, located near the Belgian border, increased particularly noticeably.

SEFE, which was previously a trading unit of Russia’s Gazprom, came under German control in 2022. It continues to fulfill obligations inherited from Gazprom under contracts for the supply of liquefied natural gas from Russia. In addition, SEFE has agreements to supply part of these volumes to India.

As Bloomberg notes, it is not known exactly how much of the Russian LNG that arrives at the Dunkirk terminal remains in France. After regasification, the liquefied gas is mixed with other flows and sold to private companies that supply it mainly to Central and Eastern European countries.

These record volumes of imports raise questions about the dependence of European countries on Russian energy resources, even against the backdrop of sanctions and efforts to diversify energy supplies.

Earlier, USM reported that Germany instructed its ports not to accept tankers with Russian LNG