EU will allow Dynagas to continue transporting Russian LNG to third countries for 12 months. A compromise was reached after resistance from Athens, which defended the interests of the Greek shipowner.
Jul 23, 2026
Greek shipping company Dynagas will be allowed to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas under new sanctions against Moscow that are to be agreed by EU countries, according to three diplomats briefed on the negotiations, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
“The deal, which still needs to be approved by envoys of the 27 EU countries on Thursday, will allow bloc companies to continue transporting Moscow’s LNG exports to third countries for a 12-month period that could be extended,” sources said. However, volumes will be capped at 2025 levels.
Countries are also set to sign off on extending the price cap on Russian oil at $44.10 per barrel for a year, as they seek to extend restrictions on Moscow’s fossil fuel revenues.
Otherwise, the cap would have automatically increased on Thursday under a system that benchmarks it against the global oil price. Oil prices hit a six-week high of over $95 per barrel earlier on Wednesday after more than a week of US and Iranian strikes. Shipping through the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz has almost completely halted.
Brussels has imposed 20 packages of sanctions against Moscow since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some member states and the European Commission wanted to ban the transportation of Russian LNG to third countries in the latest package, but their proposals met increasingly vocal resistance from others concerned about damage to their economic interests.
“The last-minute compromise came after significant resistance from Athens and other EU capitals, which argued it would harm certain industries or companies in their countries,” the publication writes.
Athens, in particular, opposed the sanctions package on behalf of Dynagas, which is owned by billionaire George Prokopiou and operates 27 gas carriers, according to the maritime data portal Equasis
These include a third of the Arc7 tanker fleet built to operate in icy Arctic waters around the Russian Yamal LNG plant.
Athens delayed approval of the 21st EU sanctions package against Russia for more than a week, leaving other measures, such as sanctions against more banks, cryptocurrency networks, and military-industrial companies, in question, the publication notes.
Late on Wednesday, one senior EU official called the proposed deal “outrageous,” reflecting the growing difficulty of reaching consensus on additional measures against Russia.
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