(Bloomberg) -- German state-owned gas company SEFE is looking to expand its supply base before being privatized later this decade, according to Chief Executive Officer Egbert Laege.
SEFE, or Securing Energy For Europe GmbH, was created after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 when Berlin nationalized the German operations of Gazprom PJSC. During the tumultuous period that followed — with Germany scrambling to replace the Russian gas that had met more than half its needs — it was cut off from supply but was later able to reinstate a long-term contract to buy liquefied natural gas from Yamal LNG in the Arctic region.
The company, which mainly provides gas to large customers and has a share of almost one-eighth of the western European market, has signed deals with various global LNG producers to keep gas flowing to Germany and avoid being overly reliant on one supplier. It is also talking to countries including Azerbaijan for pipeline gas, Laege said in an interview at the Gastech conference in Houston.
“We made very good progress in building up our portfolio in 2023,” he said. “We clearly have an ambition to expand.”
SEFE last year signed deals to buy gas from Norway’s Equinor ASA and LNG from Venture Global LNG Inc.’s planned CP2 plant in Louisiana. Its current portfolio consists of 125 LNG cargoes a year, Laege said.
“Maybe the number is, in the grand scale, not so amazing,” he said. But more important is the speed with which the company is getting back on its feet, he said.
The European Union in June imposed a ban on transshipping Yamal LNG cargoes at the bloc’s ports, which comes into force in March. That shouldn’t impact SEFE’s cargoes from the Russian project because the company is not doing any transfers at the moment.
It’s able to source supply for its Indian client nearer the South Asian nation, Laege said. Those Yamal cargoes that are optimized within the portfolio and not being delivered to India, are being unloaded at Dunkirk, France instead, according to SEFE.
The two long-term contracts, to buy Yamal LNG and to sell the fuel to Gail India Ltd. were inherited from Gazprom.
Meanwhile, SEFE is preparing for privatization, which Berlin is seeking to complete by the end of 2028.
“It’s absolutely on track,” Laege said. “We will probably go out with our equity story by the year 2026.”
(Updates with comments on Yamal LNG cargoes in paragraphs 7, 8, 9)
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