Russia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell by two per cent in January-November to 28.4 million tonnes, LSEG data showed on Monday.
For November alone, Russian LNG shipments increased by 10 per cent to 3.19 million tonnes from a year earlier, while slipping by 4.5 per cent from October, when supplies reached a monthly record high.
The launch of supplies from the Arctic LNG 2 plant boosted exports on a year-on-year basis in October and November.
However, LNG exports from Russia are down since the start of this year as they have been curbed by US sanctions over Ukraine, notably against the new Arctic LNG 2 plant, which have significantly limited the use of the tanker fleet for fuel transportation.
Exports from Arctic LNG 2 are all going to China. China received its first LNG cargo from the sanctioned Russian project at the end of August, ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG showed, days before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
LNG exports from Russia to Europe in the first 11 months of this year fell by 16 per cent year on year to 12.3 million tonnes. In November alone, exports to the same route reached around 1.3 million tonnes, broadly on a par with the same month a year ago.
Shipments from Novatek’s Yamal LNG plant rose by 2.4 per cent in November year on year to 1.7 million tonnes. Since the beginning of the year, exports from Yamal LNG have decreased by five per cent year on year to 16.9 million tonnes.
Supplies from Arctic LNG 2 declined last month to 224,000 tonnes from 298,000 tonnes in October. Since the start of the year, supplies from the project totalled 1.1 million tonnes. End-buyers in China received around one million tonnes, including from the project’s storage facilities.
Asia-oriented Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom, saw exports decline two per cent year-on-year in November to 0.98 million tonnes.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Susan Fenton)