Germany seizes Russian LNG ships in blow to Putin

THE German government has taken control of three liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships from Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Us-listed Dynagas LNG Partners said Germany’s energy network regulator assumed control of three vessels “for an indefinite period of time” after Berlin took ownership of Gazprom Germania in April.

Two of Dynagas’s ships, the Amur River and the Ob River, were chartered to a Gazprom unit until 2028, while the vessel Clean Energy was chartered to the unit until 2026. All have now been taken over by Berlin.

Germany seized control of Gazprom Germania, which runs the country’s largest gas storage facility, to secure its energy supplies amid the Ukraine conflict. It has since renamed the company Securing Energy for Europe.

The takeover came after Gazprom said it no longer owned its subsidiary Gazprom Germania but refused to disclose the unit’s new ownership structure.

Robert Habeck, the German economy minister, said the restructuring breached German trading laws and provided a basis for taking control of the unit and its subsidiaries based in Europe. Announcing the decision, Mr Habeck said: “The government is doing what is necessary to ensure security of supply in Germany. This also means that we do not allow energy infrastructures in Germany to be subject to arbitrary decisions by the Kremlin.”

The takeover allows Germany to operate the Astora gas storage facility in Lower Saxony, which is a key pillar of the country’s energy system.

Last week Germany triggered the second stage of its emergency gas plan after Russia throttled supply. Mr Habeck called the move an “economic attack”. Germany is now in talks with Canada over securing exports of LNG amid rising tensions with Russia over gas supplies.

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, discussed arranging gas supplies while at the G7 summit this week.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s energy minister, said the government was encouraging the companies behind two LNG export facilities on the country’s east coast to speed up the delivery of the project and boost shipments to Europe.

Germany now holds the charters of half of Dynagas’s fleet. Yamal LNG has contracted the company’s Yenisei River and Lena River ships until 2035, while Equinor has chartered the Arctic Aurora until 2023.