Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleA third shipment from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 arrives in China, highlighting ongoing trade despite Western sanctions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
By Sam Li and Lewis Jackson
BEIJING (Reuters) -A third tanker from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 plant, which is under Western sanctions, discharged its cargo and exited a terminal in China on Wednesday, LSEG and Kpler's ship-tracking data showed.
The U.S.-sanctioned LNG tanker Zarya unloaded more than 160,000 cubic meters of LNG from the sanctioned Russian project Arctic LNG 2 at the Beihai LNG Terminal in Guangxi, southern China.
China has so far received three cargoes of LNG from Arctic LNG 2, totalling more than 386,000 cubic meters of LNG, according to data from LSEG.
Two more Arctic LNG 2 cargoes are a few days away from Beihai, on the 174,000 cbm Buran and the 174,000 cbm Iris. The Buran is signalling an estimated arrival date of September 13, according to data intelligence firm ICIS.
Arctic LNG 2, which was set to become one of Russia's largest LNG plants with eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons a year, was included in Western sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine and has been struggling to sell LNG from the project despite beginning production and loading cargoes in August 2024.
However, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's stated priority is to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end without larger disruptions, when asked how the U.S. would react to Chinese purchases of sanctioned Russian LNG cargoes.
(Reporting by Sam Li and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Arctic LNG 2 is set to become one of Russia's largest LNG plants with an eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons a year, but it has been included in Western sanctions due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
China has received three cargoes of LNG from Arctic LNG 2, totaling more than 386,000 cubic meters.
The U.S.-sanctioned LNG tanker Zarya unloaded over 160,000 cubic meters of LNG at the Beihai LNG Terminal in Guangxi, southern China.
Two more cargoes from Arctic LNG 2, the Buran and the Iris, are expected to arrive at Beihai in a few days, with the Buran signaling an estimated arrival date of September 13.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright mentioned that President Donald Trump's priority is to end the Russia-Ukraine war without larger disruptions, highlighting the geopolitical implications of the LNG trade.
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