Greece says EU sanctions against Russia risk ceding LNG market share to rivals

ATHENS, July 17 (Reuters) - Greece, which objected to the terms of a sanctions package against Russia this week, warned the EU that a ban on transferring Russian gas to third countries could result in a loss of market share to non-EU rivals, two Greek government officials said on Friday.

European Union envoys failed on Wednesday to agree on a 21st package of sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine, as a group of countries including Greece and Austria objected to the package, for different reasons, according to two sources.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said on Monday EU countries were undecided on tightening restrictions on Russian liquefied ⁠natural gas.

Greece dominates Europe's LNG carrier market and is among the biggest players globally competing with Japan, China and the United States. 

“From Athens' perspective, any new package of restrictive measures must be carefully calibrated to maximise pressure on Moscow while minimizing unintended consequences for European businesses, consumers, and competitiveness,” one of the government officials told Reuters.

“Europe should not end up surrendering entire sectors of economic activity or market share to non-EU players as an unintended consequence of its own sanctions policy. Sanctions should erode Russia's economic capacity — not create strategic windfalls for others at Europe's expense,” the official said. 

Both officials and the two sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.   

EU envoys pushed back talks on the 21st package of sanctions against Russia to July 23, keeping a price cap on Russian oil unchanged at the current level of $44.10 per barrel until then.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)