Russia exported more liquefied natural gas in the first quarter of 2026 than it did a year earlier, with shipments to Europe increasing despite Moscow's push to redirect supply away from the region.
LNG exports rose 8.9 per cent year-on-year to 8.6 million tonnes, preliminary LSEG data showed on Wednesday.
US sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict have restrained Russian LNG exports, particularly from the Arctic LNG 2 plant, where operations have been hindered owing to difficulty securing buyers.
Supplies from the Arctic LNG 2 plant amounted to around 800,000 tonnes of LNG in the first three months of the year, helping raise overall Russian LNG deliveries.
In March alone, total Russian exports of LNG rose 13.9 per cent from a year ago to 3.04 million tonnes.
Data also showed that Russian LNG exports to Europe for the quarter ending March 31 jumped 17 per cent year-on-year to 4.8 million tonnes. In March, they rose to around 1.7 million tonnes from 1.33 million tonnes a year earlier.
The rise in exports to Europe came even as Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country could divert gas away from the region, as the European Union imposed a ban on imports of Russian pipeline gas by late-2027 and new short-term Russian LNG contracts from late-April this year.
In January, EU countries gave their final approval to ban Russian gas imports by late-2027.
Total exports from Novatek's Yamal LNG plant in the January-March period was down two per cent year-on-year at 4.8 million tonnes. All tankers from the plant were dispatched to Europe so far this year, according to the preliminary data.
Asia-oriented Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom, exported 2.8 million tonnes in the first three months of the year, up from 2.7 million tonnes during the same period last year.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Diti Pujara)