What is happening? China has started helping Gazprom sell gas despite sanctions 0 17

The gas carrier Valera (formerly known as "Veliky Novgorod") with a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Gazprom's project "LNG Portovaya" in the Baltic Sea has docked for unloading at the Beihai terminal, located in the port of Teshan, China. This was reported by Reuters, citing data from LSEG.

The complex, with a capacity of 1.5 million tons of LNG per year, was launched in September 2022. Its products were purchased in Turkey, Greece, China, Spain, and Italy, but in February 2025, sanctions began to apply to "LNG Portovaya."

Since then, the plant has been unable to sell any batches until China agreed to help. In October, another batch of fuel from "LNG Portovaya" was transshipped from the gas carrier Perle to another vessel off the coast of Malaysia, but it is unknown whether the delivery was completed.

In August, the Beihai terminal received a batch of LNG from another sanctioned Russian gas project — "Arctic LNG-2," which is being developed by Novatek. Production began in 2023, and shipments were planned for early the following year. However, U.S. pressure prevented any deals from being made before the cargo was sold to China.

At the same time, agency sources claim that Novatek agreed to supply batches at a 30-40 percent discount from the market price, as the company was unable to find another buyer. The final price of LNG from "LNG Portovaya" has not been specified.

The agreement of Chinese buyers to deal with the sanctioned project led in November to the first monthly increase in Russian LNG supplies in annual terms since the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, as of the end of the first 11 months, the export of this type of fuel decreased by two percent.