Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant on Thursday loaded this year’s fifth cargo, shortly after sending four tankers almost simultaneously to Asia in search of buyers, with another loading possible soon.
But key questions remain: Will buyers be tempted to buy sanctioned, but heavily discounted, Arctic LNG 2 volumes now on board six blacklisted tankers, and who are those potential customers?
Arctic LNG 2, controlled by LNG leader Novatek, is now understood to have just over 400,000 tons of LNG loaded on tankers that needs to be accommodated somewhere. Another 320,000 tons is in storage at the blacklisted Murmansk and Kamchatka transshipment terminals in northwest Russia and Russia’s Far East, respectively.
The conventional US-sanctioned Buran tanker on Thursday loaded Arctic LNG 2 volumes at the project’s home Utrenny export terminal on Gydan Peninsula, according to data from commodity analytics firm Kpler.
The vessel already had around 40,000 tons of Arctic LNG 2 molecules on board — roughly half of its tank capacity — loaded in June at Murmansk. At Utrenny, it filled its tanks by taking around as much LNG, according to Kpler.
