Sanctioned Russian LNG Flows to China Despite US Pressure
According to the Economic Desk of Webangah News Agency, data compiled by Bloomberg reveals that the LNG tanker ‘Valera,’ subject to U.S. sanctions, arrived at the Beihai LNG import terminal in China on Monday.
The ‘Valera’ loaded LNG in October from the Portovaya LNG export plant in the Baltic Sea, the sole LNG export facility of Gazprom. The U.S. sanctioned Portovaya and the Russian company Gazprom SPG Portovaya Limited in January 2025. These sanctions also targeted Vysotsk, another small LNG export facility in the Black Sea operated by Novatek.
The delivery of LNG from the Portovaya plant via the ‘Valera’ suggests that the U.S. and China are circumventing U.S. sanctions, reinforcing their mutually beneficial energy trade. China secures cheaper oil and gas, while Russia gains a market for its production, otherwise restricted in the West.
Russia has increased efforts to sell LNG in Asia in recent months, highlighted by rising exports from the Arctic LNG 2 project to China, defying sanctions from the U.S., UK, and EU against the project and its export service vessels.
Estimates suggest China has received over a dozen LNG cargoes from Arctic LNG 2, signaling growing boldness in Beijing and Moscow to challenge U.S. and Western sanctions on Russian energy exports.
According to OilPrice, after more than a year of struggling to find buyers, Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project was reactivated in August, indicating that Russia is now shipping loaded LNG cargoes, potentially testing the Donald Trump administration’s resolve to sanction Russian LNG customers in China.
