Greece blocks EU sanctions on Russian LNG over shipping concerns

Greece is blocking a new round of European Union sanctions targeting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), citing concerns over the potential impact on Dynagas, a shipping company owned by Greek tycoon George Prokopiou that specialises in transporting Russian cargoes from an Arctic LNG facility.

Athens’ ambassador to the EU told fellow envoys on Wednesday, July 15, that the proposed measures — which would ban the transport of Russian LNG to third countries — would “ruin” Dynagas, the Financial Times reports, quoting two people briefed on the remarks. Two additional sources confirmed that the ambassador explicitly cited the company as the reason Greece could not support the sanctions.

The objection has delayed approval of the EU’s 21st sanctions package against Russia for a week. The measures require unanimous backing from all member states and include restrictions on additional banks, cryptocurrency networks and military-industrial entities, which are now stalled.

According to maritime data portal Equasis, Dynagas operates a fleet of 27 gas carriers, including roughly one-third of the specialised Arc7 ice-class tankers designed to operate in Arctic conditions near the Yamal LNG plant. These vessels are built to withstand extreme environments and are considered among the most technically complex and costly ships, with an estimated price of around $300 million each.

The sanctions package also contains a mechanism to lower the price cap on Russian crude oil, above which companies are prohibited from purchasing and transporting it. However, EU ambassadors were forced on Wednesday evening to agree to an emergency one-week extension of the current cap at $44.10 per barrel to allow more time for negotiations. Without the extension, the cap would have risen significantly due to higher global oil prices linked to the Iran war, potentially generating billions of dollars in additional revenue for Moscow.

An EU official said the extension was also intended to assess the economic and technical consequences of the proposed sanctions, including the LNG transport ban.

Some EU diplomats argue that all member states have seen domestic companies suffer losses as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia and stress that such economic costs are part of a broader effort to pressure Moscow.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, said on Monday that she regretted the bloc had not yet reached agreement on the 21st sanctions package. “Of course, member states have various reasons [to oppose it],” she said. “Our aim is to have an agreement. If we don’t have an agreement, then we start to work on Plan B,” Kallas added, referring to the oil price cap.

Prokopiou controls both Dynagas and Dynacom, an oil tanker company that has earned at least $915 million from trading Russian crude over the past three years — more than any other Greek shipping firm. Dynacom was also among the first operators to send tankers through the Strait of Hormuz during the early phase of the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.

Since the beginning of 2025, Dynagas has transported more than 10 million tonnes of Russian LNG using 11 vessels, according to Financial Times calculations based on data from analytics firm Kpler. The company’s ships completed 144 voyages over that period.

Its Arc7 fleet has been specifically designed to service the Yamal LNG project on Russia’s Arctic coast. Greece has argued that these vessels cannot be readily redeployed elsewhere and that sanctions would likely force Dynagas to sell them to non-Western buyers, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

The remainder of the Arc7 fleet is operated by Seapeak, owned by New York-based investment firm Stonepeak, and Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, while one vessel is owned by Russia’s Sovcomflot.

By Tamilla Hasanova