Russia’s LNG Hopes Hit by Sanctions and Scarce Arctic Tankers

Russia’s hopes of boosting LNG shipments to offset lost pipeline flows to Europe may be hampered by a shortage of gas tankers, as well as sanctions, analysts told Reuters.

• Russia wants to raise its share of global LNG supply to 20% by 2030 from its current 8%.
• Novatek declared an FM over supplies from its future Arctic LNG-2 project following US sanctions on it. The EU may also follow with sanctions.
• Artic-LNG 2 has a planned capacity of 19.8m mt. While the first cargoes were planned in Q1 2024, analysts told Reuters that this will be delayed till at least Q2 2024.
• Another issue is a lack of ice-class tankers. These would be required to cut through the 2m ice along the arctic route to Asian markets like China.
• Only three suitable vessels have been built for Arctic LNG-2 and analysts expect the infrastructure will not be ready by 2030.