Russia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the first five months of the year declined by 3% from a year earlier to 13.2 million metric tons, LSEG preliminary data showed on Monday, reflecting the impact of sanctions. The United States has imposed sanctions on companies and vessels linked to Russia’s new Arctic LNG 2 plant because of the war in Ukraine, effectively freezing the project because of the difficulty for Moscow in finding buyers.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants the European Union to buy more U.S. LNG and that he will make more of it available. In May alone, Russia’s LNG exports were stable at 2.7 million tons, the same as a year earlier, according to LSEG data. Russian LNG exports to Europe in January-May declined by 12% year on year to 6.6 million tons, while supplies in May in this direction fell by 14.3% to 1.2 million tons, after sanctions on trans-shipment took effect in March. Novatek’s Yamal LNG plant cut total exports in May by 0.6% year on year to 1.61 million tons. In the first five months of the year, supplies from the plant were stable at 8.2 million tons. Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom, increased exports to 950,000 tons in May from 890,000 tons in the same month a year ago. Exports from the project rose to 4.6 million tons year-to-date from 4.4 million in January-May 2024.
Source: Reuters