Russia's LNG exports fall 2% in January-November, data shows

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russia's exports of liquefied natural gas fell by 2% in January-November to 28.4 million metric tons, LSEG data showed on Monday.

For November alone, Russian LNG shipments increased by 10% to 3.19 million tons from a year earlier, while slipping by 4.5% from October, when supplies reached a monthly record high.

The launch of supplies from the Arctic LNG 2 plant boosted exports on a year-on-year basis in October and November.

However, LNG exports from Russia are down since the start of this year as they have been curbed by U.S. sanctions over Ukraine, notably against the new Arctic LNG 2 plant, which have significantly limited the use of the tanker fleet for fuel transportation.

Exports from Arctic LNG 2 are all going to China. China received its first LNG cargo from the sanctioned Russian project at the end of August, ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG showed, days before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

LNG exports from Russia to Europe in the first 11 months of this year fell by 16% year on year to 12.3 million tons. In November alone, exports to the same route reached around 1.3 million tons, broadly on a par with the same month a year ago.

Shipments from Novatek's Yamal LNG plant rose by 2.4% in November year on year to 1.7 million tons.

Since the beginning of the year, exports from Yamal LNG have decreased by 5% year on year to 16.9 million tons.

Supplies from Arctic LNG 2 declined last month to 224,000 tons from 298,000 tons in October.

Since the start of the year, supplies from the project totalled 1.1 million tons. End-buyers in China received around 1 million tons, including from the project's storage facilities.

Asia-oriented Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom, saw exports decline 2% year-on-year in November to 0.98 million tons.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Susan Fenton)