Russia is keeping its sanctioned LNG trade with China alive during the winter thanks to an ice-class vessel capable of ploughing through the thick Arctic ice.
The sanctioned Christophe De Margerie ice-class LNG tanker is set to export its third cargo since December 20 from the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia, which is under sanctions by the United States, the EU, and the UK, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Monday.
The Christophe De Margerie is the only ice-breaker tanker of the Russian shadow fleet that ship-tracking services have identified so far as operating on the route between Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project led by Novatek and the Chinese LNG import terminal of Beihai. The Chinese port has specialized in recent months in accepting all the sanctioned Russian LNG cargoes, both from the Arctic LNG 2 plant and from the Portovaya LNG small-scale export plant on the Baltic Sea, Gazprom’s only LNG export facility.
Arctic LNG flows to China have dwindled in recent weeks due to severe winter weather and the need for ice-breakers. With only one ice-class tanker capable of traveling through the Arctic ice all year round, Russia has boosted shipments from the Portovaya LNG on the Baltic Sea. Portovaya and its Russia-based operator, Gazprom SPG Portovaya Limited Liability Company, were sanctioned by the United States in January 2025 in one of the last actions of the Biden Administration in a barrage of sanctions to “degrade Russia’s energy sector.”
As a result of increased shipments from sanctioned LNG export facilities, Russian LNG flows to China in November jumped more than twofold from a year earlier to reach a record high 1.6 million tons, making the country China’s second-largest LNG seller after Qatar.
China received 22 cargoes to from Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 export plant in 2025, data from Kpler cited by Reuters showed last week.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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