The German federal government has informed the companies that it will take appropriate measures to exclude purchases of Russian LNG.

Against the background of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German government intends to limit the import of Russian liquefied natural gas, complementing efforts to reduce its dependence on the energy supply of the aggressor country.

As Bloomberg reports, this is stated in a letter from Deputy Energy Minister Patrick Greichen in response to a number of questions raised by conservative opposition MPs.

“The federal government does not support purchases of Russian LNG. The federal government has informed companies that it will take appropriate measures to exclude purchases of Russian LNG as much as possible,” Greichen noted.

According to the German lobby group Zukunft Gas, countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain still accept shipments of Russian LNG, which currently account for about 6% of the continent’s gas imports.

The German government knows that Russian LNG is reaching import terminals in neighboring countries, writes Greichen. However, it is very difficult to estimate how much of it is currently stored.

According to the document, in the future companies will be obliged to inform the Commission about the origin of natural gas purchases if their volume exceeds five terawatt-hours.

The war in Ukraine and the gas situation in Europe:

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a number of EU countries were completely or partially dependent on the supply of Russian gas. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, most countries began to reduce this dependence.

In December 2022, the energy ministers of the countries of the European Union agreed to establish a ceiling price for gas. It will be €180 per megawatt-hour (MWh), with the cap expected to come into force in mid-February 2023.

The Kremlin called such sanctions “an attempt to encroach on the market mechanism” and promised retaliatory measures. However, a week after agreeing on the establishment of a maximum price for gas in the Russian Federation, there was talk of resuming supplies to the EU through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.

Russia threatened to stop supplying gas to the EU in the event of the introduction of a “price ceiling”.

On December 28, 2022, gas prices in Europe fell to pre-war levels.

On January 4, 2023, the price of gas in Europe fell to its lowest level since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

On January 6, 2023, German Vice-Chancellor, Minister of Economy Robert Habeck declared that Putin had lost in his gas blackmail of Europe. Berlin was able to replace the interrupted Russian supplies of gas, oil and coal through other channels.

On January 10, 2023, Germany said that by the end of the winter of 2023, its gas storage will be more full than it was by the end of the winter of 2022, immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.