Russian Sibur doubles LPG loadings from Ust-Luga, resumes supply to India

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Sibur, Russia's largest producer and exporter of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has doubled LPG loadings through the Baltic port of Ust-Luga in January-May 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 to 418,000 metric tons, according to two industry sources and LSEG data.

The sources said Sibur managed to increase exports by fixing for shipments of several new MGC (medium gas carrier) class gas tankers, each able to carry up to 20,000 tons of product.

The company also managed to resume LPG supplies to India it last did in 2023, LSEG data showed.

Following EU sanctions on Russian LPG supplies (except for butane and isobutane) at the end of 2024, Sibur partially redirected volumes from Europe to Ust-Luga port for seaborne exports and looked for new buyers for its product, the sources said.

Until April this year Sibur's LPG sea shipments were mostly Turkey-bound with about 90% of all shipments from Ust-Luga going to the country, but last month Sibur shipped two tankers with a total volume of about 40,000 tons to India.

According to traders, Sibur shifted a part of the LPG volumes from Turkey to India because of the excess on the Mediterranean market.

"There is a lot of gas on the (Mediterranean) market, especially propane. So it is quite a reasonable move to redirect part of the volumes to India," one of the sources said.

Sibur confirmed to Reuters their LPG shipments from Ust-Luga to India in May.

The company believes that the increase in LPG shipments by Sibur as a whole from Ust-Luga is due to "an increase in available volumes (of LPG), since the Russian market is currently (in) surplus."

Regarding the prospects for Sibur's LPG deliveries to India in the future, the company's press service told Reuters that "Sibur is constantly evaluating all available markets and will look at the economic efficiency (of deliveries)"

Sibur previously supplied LPG from Ust-Luga to India in the third quarter of 2023 after European buyers partially banned LPG purchases from Russia.

In 2024, Sibur cut loadings from Ust-Luga port by 37% compared to 2023 to 570,000 tons, according to traders and LSEG.

At the end of 2023, the European Union imposed an embargo on the import of Russian-origin LPG with a 12-month transition period, during which the export of propane-butane from Russia to Europe was possible under long-term contracts concluded before the introduction of sanctions. Since December 2024, the sanctions have come into full force.

(Reporting by Damir Khalmetov; editing by David Evans)