A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has left Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 after loading a cargo there, according to data from LSEG and analytics firm Kpler, as the project continues output despite Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The Buran tanker arrived at Arctic LNG 2 on October 13 and departed loaded on October 15, Kpler data showed.
Shipping database Equasis lists the tanker’s registered owner as LNG Alpha Shipping and its ship or commercial manager as Angara in Moscow.
On the other hand, China has received a ninth cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, LSEG and Kpler data show.
The Arctic Metagaz tanker, which is also subject to Western sanctions, berthed at China’s Beihai LNG Terminal in the southwestern region of Guangxi on October 14, Kpler’s data showed.
The tanker’s registered owner is Lathyrus Shipping and its commercial manager is Ocean Speedstar Solutions, both with registered addresses in Mumbai, according to shipping database Equasis.
It had picked up a cargo from the Saam floating storage unit in Murmansk, northwest Russia, on July 17, a facility only used for handling LNG from Arctic LNG 2, according to Kpler. It departed Beihai Terminal on October 15.
PipeChina, operator of the Beihai LNG Terminal, did not respond to a Reuters request for immediate comment.
While Western countries have sought to cripple Moscow’s oil and gas sector to punish it for its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, China has ramped up energy imports from Russia.
Arctic LNG 2 is 60 per cent owned by Russian gas producer Novatek. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) each hold 10 per cent stakes.
The project had been set to become one of Russia’s largest LNG plants, with an eventual annual output of 19.8 million tonnes, before it was placed under US sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
It has delivered nine cargoes to China’s Beihai terminal in the southern region of Guangxi this year.
(Reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore and Sam Li in Beijing; Editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)