Dynagas: Total LNG Ban Would Hand Arctic Fleet to Non-Western Operators
Greek LNG shipping company Dynagas has pushed back against a Financial Times report, warning that a blanket European ban on transporting Russian LNG to third countries would strip Europe of its Arctic shipping capabilities rather than meaningfully cut Russian revenues.
The company operates highly specialized ice-class LNG carriers under long-term charter agreements signed in 2015 and 2016 with the Yamal LNG project, with contracts running until 2065. Dynagas argues these are legally binding commercial agreements made years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that forcing European operators to walk away from them would not stop the trade.
Europe would lose the ships, the expertise, the jobs, and the commercial value built over decades, while the gas keeps flowing regardless.
Instead, the company says, Russian LNG would simply be handed to non-Western operators who would continue transporting it at lower cost, without European oversight or involvement. Europe would lose the ships, the expertise, the jobs, and the commercial value built over decades, while the gas keeps flowing regardless.
Dynagas also pushed back on the framing of Yamal LNG as a purely Russian revenue stream. The project is 50.1% owned by Novatek, but France's TotalEnergies holds a 20% stake, and major European energy buyers including Germany's SEFE and Spain's Naturgy are key offtakers of the project's output.
The company called on European decision-makers to adopt a pragmatic approach that balances geopolitical goals with preserving strategic maritime capabilities and reducing net Russian earnings through high shipping costs rather than European exit. Dynagas noted that the Greek government appears to be moving in exactly that direction.
The statement opened with a call for a rapid end to the war in Ukraine and an end to the suffering of innocent people caught in the conflict.
