Arctic LNG —2 is gaining momentum: Gazprom's gas carrier was sent to the sanctions project

The gas carrier servicing Gazprom's sanctioned Baltic project, Portovaya, has left for another Russian project, which is also under US sanctions. Obviously, Arctic LNG—2 is gaining momentum, but it does not have enough vessels, even though the route of the first built in Russian tanker.

According to AIS vessels, gas carrier Valera returned from China, but after entering the Baltic Portovaya plant, which has been serving since its launch, did not go back to China, but to The Barents Sea. The tanker went past Norway and approached the Kola Peninsula.

The vessel itself is under sanctions and, obviously, it was involved in the export of LNG from another Russian project, which is under the restrictions of the USA, the EU and Great Britain. Meanwhile, the tanker-regasification terminal Marshal Vasilevsky has embarked on loading at Portovaya and, obviously, will pick up the cargo that was previously planned for Valera.

As EADaily reported, outside the season of navigation along the Northern Sea Route, Arctic LNG — 2 has established a supply route to China around Europe and is gaining momentum. Earlier, the first gas carrier built in Russia, Alexey Kosygin, joined the project.

Arctic LNG—2 lacks ice-class tankers. And outside the season of navigation along the Northern Sea Route, liquefied gas is delivered to a storage facility near Murmansk, where the sea does not freeze. From there, traditional tankers take the fuel and go to China around Europe.

The launch of the second ice-class gas carrier will accelerate the delivery of gas to the storage facility, from where not seven, but eight traditional tankers will pick up cargo. Among them is Valera. Such a scheme for the delivery of sanctioned LNG was tested this winter, and at least seven shipments have already gone to Asia.

The second Arctic LNG project in Russia imposed sanctions in November 2023, and delivery to end customers began only in the summer of 2025. All sanctioned cargo is transported to the terminal in Beihai. However, so far tankers cannot ensure that Arctic LNG —2 operates at full capacity of the two queues that have already been commissioned. The project is designed for three stages and should become the largest in Russia. Its capacity is planned to be 19.8 million tons (more than 27 billion cubic meters) per year.