Is Germany still importing Russian gas?

Germany's three-party governing coalition, which collapsed this month, hasn't had many success stories. Yet most observers agree that Chancellor Olaf Scholz deserves praise for taking emergency energy measures to make sure that people didn't freeze in the winter and there were no blackouts after Germany decided to wean itself from Russian oil and gas after the invasion of Ukraine war broke out and the Kremlin's cutting off of gas supplies.

Germany was Europe's largest importer of Russian gas before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After announcing a phaseout of Russian gas and Russia abruptly cutting off the gas supplies, Berlin had to find alternatives, securing contracts with other suppliers while building terminals to receive so-called liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments by sea.

Within months, Germany had managed to stop directly importing Russian gas.

The Russian gas supply to Germany again came in the spotlight after the British business daily Financial Times (FT) reported that it had seen a letter from the German Economy Ministry dated November 6, in which the ministry reportedly "instructs" Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) "not to accept any deliveries of Russian LNG." Quoting from the letter, FT wrote thagt the ministry said the order was issued to protect the country's "overriding public interests," adding that, were the DET to allow this shipment to go ahead, "the LNG terminal would defy the very reason it was set up in the first place — making Germany and the EU as a whole independent of Russian gas."

On November 14, the news agency Reuters reported that Germany indeed refused to allow the Russian LNG shipment to be unloaded at the Brunsbüttel terminal, citing industry sources.

'Potentially leaked documents'

DET is a state-owned company that operates four German LNG terminals on the North Sea coast — Brunsbüttel, Wilhelmshaven I and II, and Stade — that are essential for ensuring Germany's gas supply.

When asked by DW if DET had received such an instruction, the company responded in an emailed statement: "For legal reasons, we cannot provide information about contracts with third parties."

The fact that the ministry saw it necessary to issue such an order now raises several questions. First of all, has Russian LNG been unloaded in Germany despite the boycott? And second, does such an instruction even exist?

The German Economy Ministry said in a statement that it "will not comment on any potentially leaked documents, as usual."

The Federal Network Agency, which is responsible for Germany's gas pipeline network, also declined to comment. According to spokeswoman Nadia Affani, the agency "cannot provide information on any instructions from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to DET."

Who bought Russia's gas?

If Russian LNG has flowed through German networks, it must have been ordered and purchased by someone. It's speculated that this has happened via a company called SEFE Energy GmbH — a state-owned gas importer formerly known as Wingas and based in the town of Kassel.

Founded in 1993 as a German-Russian joint venture, it was sold to Russian energy giant Gazprom in October 2015. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the company was nationalized, with the German state being the sole owner of the company since 2022.

At the moment, there is no clear evidence that SEFE bought the Russian LNG shipment. The company did not respond to a related inquiry from DW.

Another possibility, which might also explain the reported letter from the German ministry to DET, involves potential transit deals of Russian LNG within the European Union. Perhaps Russian gas was offloaded at German terminals and then forwarded to other European countries. FT wrote in its article that while the US and the UK have banned Russian LNG, "the EU has continued to import the fuel," with  Belgium, Spain, and France, for example, having long-term contracts with Russia.

Federal Network Agency spokeswoman Affani can't rule out a possible gas transfer through German networks, telling DW that it's "conceivable that Russian gas molecules might flow to or through Germany" as a transit country. "The Federal Network Agency does not track whether German importers are buying Russian LNG directly. Nor does the agency collect import data from neighboring countries."

For the Economy Ministry, by contrast, it remains "abundantly clear" that the country "does not receive Russian gas," and that any such shipments for others "must not happen through German LNG terminals," the ministry told DW in a statement.

Political LNG puzzle

The confusion over German LNG imports from Russia is yet another piece in the puzzle of EU sanctions against Moscow.

Zukunft Gas (Future of Gas), a Brussels-based lobbying group for the German gas industry, says Russian LNG still accounted for 16% of total LNG imports to the bloc in October, citing recent data compiled by Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

Zukunft Gas spokesman Charlie Grüneberg told DW that the transit of Russian gas through EU terminals will likely end in March 2025 under a new EU sanctions package against Russia — the bloc's 14th — agreed upon in July this year.

"The package also includes new restrictions on Russian LNG. It will prohibit the transfer of Russian LNG in European ports for onward shipment to non-EU third countries," Grüneberg said. "Beyond that," he added, "there are no general EU sanctions against Russian gas."

So far, it remains unclear whether German LNG ports have accepted shipments of Russian gas despite the country's import ban. 

This article was originally written in German.