A shipment of Russian liquefied natural gas arrived at a Chinese terminal for the first time since the UK sanctioned the port facility, underscoring Beijing’s appetite for Moscow’s energy supplies despite Western efforts to curb such trade.
The Arctic Mulan vessel, carrying fuel from the already blacklisted Arctic LNG 2 plant in Russia, landed at the Beihai LNG station on Friday, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The UK sanctioned the terminal because it has been receiving the restricted Russian cargoes since late August.
The move comes as Washington is in the midst of an escalating trade war with Beijing, while President Donald Trump is trying to broker a peace deal with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. Trump and other Western nations have been looking to tighten Russia’s oil and gas exports in a bid to reduce its revenues.
While the sanctions include a wind-down period that runs until Nov. 13, at least one shipment that appears to be en route to southern China from the Arctic region could arrive after that date – a sign Beijing likely won’t slow its trade with Russia. Two additional cargoes in East Asia are also heading to southern China, ship data show.
Russia and China had anticipated possible Western retaliation against Beihai. The Asian nation designated the terminal as the sole entry point for cargoes from Arctic LNG 2 – a Russian project already sanctioned by the US and UK. Other Chinese importers have since stopped using the terminal.
Arctic Mulan loaded an LNG shipment from a floating storage unit in eastern Russia in early October, according to ship-tracking data. The fuel in storage was sourced from the Arctic LNG 2 project. The storage facility and Arctic Mulan have been previously sanctioned by western nations.
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