Yamal LNG arrived in France: gas carriers unload one after another

In February, Yamal LNG continued to work exclusively for the European market and imports to France are growing. In a week and a half of the second month of winter, six batches of Russian liquefied gas were delivered to the country at once. French storage stocks have fallen to 26% and in a week they will run out of fuel accumulated last year.

Yamal LNG continues to work for the European market. As in January, all deliveries go to the countries The EU and most recently to France. The country is already the largest buyer of Yamal gas, however, according to AIS vessels, six LNG shipments of up to 600 million cubic meters were delivered to France in a week and a half in February. Six gas carriers entered the terminals in Dunkirk and Montreux. And, in fact, they are unloaded one after another, since the process can take a day.

It is quite possible that the purchases are related to low gas reserves in the country. The level of filling of storage facilities dropped to 26% (3.1 billion cubic meters) by February 10. And with the current selection above 50 million cubic meters per day, last year's accumulations will end next week.

By this season, France has accumulated 1 billion cubic meters less than the previous one — 11.1 billion cubic meters. And such a step was one of the reasons for the depletion of UGS. Others are frosty weather and calm.

French TotalEnergies is a member of Yamal LNG and annually receives up to 7 billion cubic meters of Arctic gas in the form of LNG. However, other French companies are also making purchases. Also, part of the volumes could go to the German SEFE, which was nationalized from Gazprom by the German government in 2022. The company continues to have a long—term contract for the supply of Yamal LNG and one of the routes is the French Dunkirk terminal. Half of the February deliveries were delivered there — three batches. It is known that the situation in Germany is worse than in France. Last year's savings there have already ended.

It is not known whether February will be another month when Yamal LNG will work exclusively for the EU market. According to AIS of vessels, two gas carriers that transport Yamal liquefied gas to Asia have been parked near Murmansk for half a month and so far there have been no overloads from ice-class tankers. A lot depends on the Chinese clients of the project, who, obviously, had previously resold their volumes to Europe.

The EU is counting on new LNG projects in the USA and Qatar has decided to abandon Russian liquefied natural gas in the summer of 2027. However, so far the Russian share in imports is 13% and European customers benefit from purchases, including due to the short transport shoulder.

In addition, most of the LNG comes from long-term contracts and the termination of contracts will cause headaches for companies from the EU. Especially — TotalEnergies. The company's CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the company is appealing to the French government and the European Commission to clarify the EU ban on the import of Russian LNG.

"It seems that a European company cannot sell Russian LNG, which we did not initially expect," Patrick Pouyanne said at a briefing for analysts, Reuters reports.

According to him, this option will force the company to withdraw from the Yamal project.

"If European companies are banned from selling Russian LNG, the risk of force majeure and the closure of projects will increase dramatically, which could lead to a reduction in supply in the Atlantic basin and an increase in spot prices for LNG and European gas," Atlantic LNG manager at S&P Global Energy Eli Blakeway told Reuters.