Russia delivered first LNG shipment from Russian Arctic LNG 2 to China this year - Reuters

The first batch of liquefied natural gas from the sanctioned Russian plant "Arctic LNG 2" (Arctic LNG 2) was unloaded at the Chinese LNG terminal "Beihai" (Beihai LNG), Reuters reported on Monday, citing LSEG data, writes UNN.

Details

According to these data, on December 25, the gas carrier "Buran" (Buran) was loaded with LNG at the floating storage facility "Saam" (Saam) near the Russian port of Murmansk, which is used by the plant.

The vessel, as indicated, delivered the cargo to the southwestern region of China, Guangxi, via the Suez Canal, a route that Arctic LNG 2 ships began to use after winter restrictions limited access to the Northern Sea Route along Russia's Arctic coast.

Arctic LNG 2, 60% owned by the Russian company "Novatek", was supposed to become one of the largest LNG plants in the country with a target production volume of 19.8 million metric tons per year, but US sanctions due to Russia's war against Ukraine have clouded its prospects, the publication indicates.

"Novatek" began production at the "Arctic LNG" plant in December 2023, but only in August last year began deliveries of cargo to end users, all of them in China.

According to LSEG data, last year the Arctic LNG 2 project delivered 23 cargoes, or 1.3 million metric tons of LNG, including from its storage facilities near Murmansk and the eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, to Beihai LNG, the sole importer of cargoes from the project.

Separately, LSEG data on Monday showed that the first Russian Arc 7 gas carrier "Alexey Kosygin" (Alexey Kosygin) arrived at the "Arctic LNG 2" plant for loading.

Ice-class tankers usually have a double hull – reinforced structures to withstand ice pressure – and reinforced propellers.

First Russian-built ice-class tanker approaches sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant26.01.26, 12:58 • 1968 views