China Continues To Import Sanctioned Russian Arctic LNG Cargoes

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• China has become a regular importer of LNG from Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project, with a third cargo recently discharging at a Chinese terminal.

• The Arctic LNG 2 export project, sanctioned by the US, EU, and UK, has resumed shipping cargoes after struggling for over a year to find buyers willing to risk secondary sanctions.

• Two additional LNG tankers carrying supply from the sanctioned Russian project are currently en route to the Chinese port of Beihai.

China appears to have become a regular importer of liquefied natural gas from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia as the third cargo in two weeks has just discharged gas at a Chinese import terminal.  

 The LNG tanker Zarya, sanctioned by the United States, unloaded on Wednesday over 160,000 cubic meters of LNG from Arctic LNG 2 at the southern Chinese Beihai LNG Terminal in Guangxi, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing ship-tracking data from LSEG and Kpler. 

The Arctic LNG 2 export project roared back to life this summer, in a sign that Russia is done waiting and is now sending off loaded LNG cargoes, which could be testing the Trump Administration’s willingness to sanction Russia’s LNG customers in China. 

Arctic LNG 2 is under sanctions by the United States, the EU, and the UK, which have also blacklisted many of the LNG vessels thought to be servicing the project’s output. 

For over a year, the U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia’s Arctic LNG 2, which was billed as Russia’s flagship LNG project, had effectively frozen the start-up of the export facility in the Gydan Peninsula.

The project last year came under intensifying sanctions from the United States, which put off any buyers that were previously considering buying cargoes from Arctic LNG 2.

The Russian export project struggled for more than a year to find any buyer willing to risk secondary sanctions. 

The wait ended at the end of August, when a cargo from the facility docked at a Chinese import terminal.

The Arctic Mulan LNG tanker arrived at the Beihai LNG terminal, and China received the cargo, making it the first-ever actual exported cargo out of the Russian facility. 

Now that the third LNG cargo from the sanctioned Russian project has unloaded in China, two other LNG tankers loaded with Arctic LNG supply are en route to Beihai and just a couple of days away from the Chinese port.