Greek shipping company Dynagas will be allowed to continue carrying Russian liquefied natural gas as part of a compromise with other EU capitals to impose new sanctions on Moscow.
The deal, approved by EU ambassadors early on Thursday morning, allows companies from the bloc to continue transporting Moscow’s LNG exports to third countries for a 12-month period that could be renewed, according to three diplomats briefed on the decision. However, volumes would be capped at 2025 levels.
In exchange, Greece agreed to a measure to extend a price cap on Russian oil at $44.10 a barrel for one year as the EU seeks to continue restricting Moscow’s fossil fuel revenues.
That cap would have otherwise automatically increased on Thursday if there were no agreement on a new sanctions package due to a system that benchmarks it to the global oil price.
Crude prices hit a six-week high above $95 a barrel earlier on Wednesday following more than a week of strikes by the US and Iran. Shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway has ground to a near halt.
Brussels has implemented 20 sanctions packages against Moscow since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A package agreed in October last year banned the transport of Russian LNG to third countries from the end of this year.
Greece had demanded a carve-out from this measure for any contracts agreed before Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as its price for agreeing to the latest sanctions, which target other Russian exports and the country’s banking sector.
Other proposals on fish exports and EU tourist visas for Russian soldiers were met with an increasingly vociferous pushback from others worried about the damage to their economic interests.
Athens demanded an exemption from the LNG transit ban on behalf of Dynagas, which is owned by the billionaire George Prokopiou and operates 27 gas tankers, according to maritime data portal Equasis.
These include a third of the fleet of Arc7 tankers, which are built to handle the icy Arctic waters around Russia’s Yamal LNG plant.
Athens has held up approval of the EU’s 21st sanctions package against Russia for more than a week, leaving other measures such as sanctions against more banks, cryptocurrency networks and military-industrial companies in limbo.
The proposed agreement was described as “outrageous” by one senior EU official late on Wednesday night, reflecting the increased difficulty in reaching consensus on additional measures against Russia.
Source: ft.com