Early Winter Ice Halts Arctic LNG Deliveries to China

Sanctioned LNG vessels carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project are running into early winter ice on the Northern Sea Route and deliveries to China from the Russian export plant could drop off as temperatures in the Arctic plummet.

The Buran vessel, which offloaded a cargo at a Kamchatka floating storage unit on October 26, reached the Northern Sea Route north of the Bering Strait on October 29, maritime news outlet gCaptain reports, citing satellite data and tanker-tracking service providers.

Images from Maritime Optima suggest that the Buran has been trying since October 29 to find a path through the Northern Sea Route through early winter ice.

Separate tanker-tracking data shows that Arctic LNG 2 operator, Russian firm Novatek, has started to withdraw its non-ice-class vessels away from the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and re-route them through the Suez Canal, according to gCaptain.

Since the start of the Russian deliveries from Arctic LNG 2 to China’s Beihai import terminal, most of the LNG has gone to storage at Beihai, Kjell Eikland, managing director of data provider Eikland Energy, said in an analysis last week.

Only one ship from Arctic LNG 2, La Perouse, is now seen inbound to Beihai, Eikland added.

“With the coming official start of the NSR winter season in two weeks, Eikland Energy maintains that steady ALNG2 deliveries to Beihai, at levels seen the last two months, will not be possible,” the expert noted.

After more than a year of attempts to sell cargoes, Arctic LNG found the usual customer—one LNG import terminal in China, which has been receiving the sanctioned cargoes on blacklisted vessels since August. China’s Beihai has received at least 11 shipments of Arctic LNG in just two months.

The Arctic LNG 2 project roared back to life in August, in a sign that Russia could be testing the Trump Administration’s willingness to sanction Russia’s LNG customers in China. The start of the Russia-China trade from the U.S.-sanctioned project coincided with Vladimir Putin’s visit to China in late August-early September.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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