Russia's exports of liquefied natural gas rose 9.9 per cent in the first half of the year to 16.6 million tonnes, boosted by growing supplies from the new Arctic LNG 2 project, preliminary LSEG data showed on Thursday.
However, June exports fell 1.5 per cent from a year earlier and 37 per cent from May to 2.03 million tonnes, due to seasonal maintenance at the Asia-orientated Sakhalin-2 plant.
Sakhalin-2, controlled by Russian state gas company Gazprom, suspended LNG output and exports with effect from June 17, due to planned maintenance, according to LSEG ship-tracking data.
Supplies from Arctic LNG 2 reached around 1.6 million tonnes in the first half of this year, according to the data.
The project started production in December 2023 but was only able to deliver a first cargo to end-buyers in China last August due to US sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Data also showed that Russian LNG exports to Europe in January to June jumped 14 per cent year-on-year to nine million tonnes.
In June alone, they declined to around 1.14 million tonnes from 1.25 million tonnes a year earlier. Early this year, EU countries gave final approval to ban Russian gas imports by late 2027.
Total exports from Novatek's Yamal LNG plant in the January to June period declined two per cent year-on-year to 9.5 million tonnes.
Sakhalin-2 exported 5.1 million tonnes of LNG in the first six months of the year, slightly up from five million tonnes in the same period last year. In April, Gazprom also delivered an LNG cargo from the Baltic Sea's Portovaya plant to China, the second since sanctions were imposed on the plant.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
