FT: Germany ordered ports to reject Russian natural gas deliveries

Germany has warned state-operated gas import terminals to reject any Russian cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The website of the Financial Times (FT) reports. According to the newspaper, Germany’s economy ministry issued the order after receiving information from Deutsche Energy Terminal about a planned delivery of this kind. The report comes as the European Union considers replacing Russian LNG by increasing imports from the United States.

The company informed Berlin that its import facility in Brunsbüttel was due to receive an LNG cargo from Russia on Sunday. In a letter dated 6 November, seen by the FT, the ministry justified its order to “not accept any deliveries of Russian liquefied natural gas” on the grounds of “overriding public interests”. It instructed the operator to reject LNG deliveries from Russia until further notice.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week floated the idea of replacing Russian LNG with increased imports from the US. According to the newspaper, LNG imports into the European Union could become a bargaining chip in the EU’s negotiations with the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Germany was Europe’s largest importer of Russian gas before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. When Russian President Vladimir Putin cut off gas pipeline supplies to Germany and other European countries, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government began seeking alternative supplies and building LNG terminals to receive gas shipments by sea. In its letter, the German ministry said that allowing this cargo to be transported would undermine the purpose for which the terminal was built: to make Germany and the EU as a whole independent of Russian gas.