Russia’s January-July exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) increased by 5.3% from a year earlier to 18.0 million metric tons, LSEG data showed on Thursday.

Europe accounted for 57% of the total, or 10.3 million tons.

Total LNG exports declined in July by 6.7% to 2.1 million tons compared to June but rose by 5% year on year.

Exports from Russia to Europe were included in that figure. In July, they declined to about 1.1 million tons from 1.6 million tons in June. That was unchanged from July last year, the data showed.

The Novatek-led Yamal LNG site in the Arctic sent 11.2 million tons of LNG in the first six months of the year, the data showed. Loadings were increased by 8.7% year on year.
But in July, shipments from Yamal LNG declined by 11% to 1.44 million tons down from 1.62 million tons a month earlier and from 1.5 million tons a year ago.

Exports of LNG from the Yamal LNG plant have slowed in July due to a longer wait for vessels to offload the fuel in Europe.

At the same time, Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom GAZP.MM, exported 5.3 million tons from the Pacific island.

Shipments from the project declined to 0.3 million tons in July from 0.5 million tons in June, down 22% year-on-year due to planned maintenance.

Last month, European Union countries agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, including a ban on re-exports of Russian LNG through EU waters. The sanctions take effect from March 2025.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; editing by David Evans)