Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project has boosted production to a record high since its launch in December 2023, helped by exports to China, even as looming winter ice will soon halt shipments along the Northern Sea Route and the G7 readies new sanctions against Moscow.
Average daily output in September reached 17.9 million cubic meters, about 14% higher than the previous peak in August, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Seven tankers carrying LNG from Arctic LNG 2 have unloaded at the Beihai terminal in southern China since late August, with another vessel en route, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Beihai has largely received supplies via the Koryak FSU floating storage unit off Kamchatka, where LNG from Arctic LNG 2 has been shipped since last year.
Limited availability of Arc7-class icebreaking tankers restricts direct shipments from the Arctic to the east to summer and early autumn.
Arctic LNG 2 had halted liquefaction in October 2024 and reduced gas output to zero by the next month.
In late September, the Arc7 tanker Christophe de Margerie loaded LNG at Arctic LNG 2 and is now sailing east via the Northern Sea Route.
Another carrier, Voskhod, has since taken on cargo after unloading in China, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Gas has also been shipped from the plant to Novatek’s second floating storage unit near Murmansk, though no LNG from that facility has yet been delivered to buyers.
In total, Arctic LNG 2 has shipped 16 cargoes since 2023, LSEG data shows.
China appears to have designated Beihai — which has limited international connections — as the main hub for Russian LNG.
Chinese importers, including state energy giant CNOOC, and foreign suppliers have rerouted regular deliveries from the terminal to other ports to avoid direct links to Arctic LNG 2.
The terms of the shipments remain unclear. But in 2024, Novatek executives and Russian officials sought buyers in several countries by offering LNG at discounts of up to 40% — similar to the price cuts Russia applies to pipeline gas sales to China compared with European levels.
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