Europe has spent years trying to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, both to cut fossil fuel emissions and to limit the flow of European money into Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Yet billions of euros are still moving in the opposite direction. New shipping data shows just how large that trade remains — and how European companies continue to play a crucial role in keeping Russia’s Arctic gas industry connected to international markets.
Greek-linked shipping vessels transported an estimated €2.35 billion worth of Russian Arctic liquefied natural gas to European ports during the first seven months of 2026, according to new analysis from Urgewald, a Germany-based environmental and human rights organization that investigates the financial institutions and companies supporting fossil fuel and other environmentally damaging industries.
The organization analyzed cargo-level data from commodities intelligence company Kpler to track shipments from Russia’s massive Yamal LNG project.
Why does this matter? Russia’s ability to sell oil and gas remains an important source of export revenue, while the EU is simultaneously trying to use sanctions and energy policy to reduce its economic relationship with Moscow. The new figures expose a striking contradiction: EU ports received more than 92 percent of all LNG exported from Yamal during the first seven months of 2026, with Urgewald estimating that European countries paid €6.64 billion for those shipments. EU-bound Yamal volumes were not falling — they increased 13.9 percent compared with the same period in 2025.
At the center of that supply chain is Greek shipowner Dynagas. Vessels attributed to the company transported 57 cargoes, or 4.14 million tonnes of LNG, from Yamal between January and July — approximately 35 percent of everything exported by the Russian Arctic project during the period, according to Urgewald and data they sent to Green Prophet.
- In July alone, Dynagas-linked vessels delivered six cargoes and 413,924 tonnes to EU ports, with an indicative gross value of €306 million.
- Across all destinations in July, Dynagas-linked vessels carried eight of Yamal’s 22 cargoes, totalling 557,302 tonnes.
- EU countries paid an estimated €6.64 billion for 10.89 million tonnes of Yamal LNG between January and July, including around €681 million in July.
- Dynagas volumes rose by 5.0 per cent from the same period in 2025, while total Yamal LNG volumes were broadly flat.
Of those shipments, 53 cargoes carrying 3.86 million tonnes were delivered to EU ports, with an estimated gross value of €2.35 billion.
The timing is particularly significant because Greece recently delayed agreement on the EU’s 21st sanctions package while seeking an exemption protecting qualifying European companies transporting Russian LNG under contracts signed before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The eventual sanctions package included such an exemption, raising questions about how Europe can simultaneously tighten restrictions on Russian energy while maintaining parts of the infrastructure that allow the trade to continue.
