Russian Seaborne LNG Exports Reached 30.3 Million Tonnes

The current situation in Ukraine is having a direct impact on the shipping markets, with Russian seaborne exports being driven off the market. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “Russia is the fourth largest seaborne exporter of liquified natural gas in the world, after Qatar, Australia, and the USA. In calendar 2021 the country exported a total of 30.3 mln tonnes of LNG by sea, according to Refinitiv vessel tracking data, an increase of +5.4% y-o-y. This amounted to 7.8 percent of global seaborne LNG exports. The majority of LNG exports from Russia are currently sourced from the Yamal LNG project, the northernmost industrial facility on the globe, and loaded at Sabetta Port on Russia’s Arctic coast. Yamal LNG is served by a fleet of 15 ice-class 170,000 cbm LNG carriers”.

According to Banchero Costa, “in 2021, exports from Yamal LNG reached 19.5 mln tonnes (64% of Russia’s total). The vast majority of this (13.7 mln tonnes, 70%) was shipped to Europe, whilst just 5.7 mln tonnes (30%) was shipped to Asia. Some 3.2 mln tonnes were shipped to China. A second LNG Plant, named Artic LNG 2, is currently under construction with completion date planned for 2022 at a site to east near the Gyda Peninsula, across the river Ob estuary from Sabetta, and will be targeted for the Asian markets. The Arctic LNG 2 project plans the construction of three LNG trains, with a capacity of 6.6 mtpa each”.

“The second largest operational LNG export facility in Russia is in Prigorodnoye on Sakhalin Island, in the country’s Far East region, from the Sakhalin-2 project. This was the first LNG export facility in Russia. The LNG plant was inaugurated on 18 February 2009. The first cargo was loaded to the LNG carrier Grand Aniva at the end of March 2009. Exports from Sakhalin reached 10.1 mln tonnes of LNG in 2021, which was 33.3% of Russia’s total. Shipments from Sakhalin are entirely to Asia – primarily to Japan (6.0 mln tonnes in 2021), to South Korea (2.0 mln t), to Taiwan (1.2 mln t), and to Mainland China (0.8 mln t)”, the shipbroker said.

“Finally, small amounts of LNG (0.7 mln tonnes in 2019) are shipped from Vysotsk on the Gulf of Finland. The destinations of these tiny cargoes are mostly neighbouring Baltic Sea countries (Finland, Sweden, Lithuania), as well as Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Russian LNG exports have been growing very fast in recent years, by +71.9% y-o-y in 2018, by +56.2% y-oy in 2019. However since 2020, exports slowed down sharply, largely due to limited demand from Europe. In 2020, Russian export growth slowed to +1.0% y-o-y in 2020, followed by the +5.4% y-o-y in 2021. In terms of destinations, the main customer for Russian LNG is the European Union. In the full 12 months of 2021, exports from Russia to the European Union declined slightly by -2.0% y-oy to 12.1 mln tonnes. Nevertheless, the European Union still accounted for 39.8% of Russian LNG shipments in 2021. The 12.1 mln tonnes shipped in 2021 were three times higher than the 4.1 mln tonnes shipped in 2018. Before 2018 they were essentially zero”, Banchero Costa said.

“Volumes to the UK, on the other hand, increased by +24.4% y-o-y in 2.3 mln tonnes, just shy of the record 2.4 mln tonnes of 2019. The UK was the destination for 7.5% of Russian LNG shipments in 2021. The second top destination after Europe is Japan, which accounted for almost 23% of Russian LNG shipments in 2021. Shipments to Japan were up by +24.6% y-o-y in 2021 to 6.8 mln tonnes, an all time high. Exports to South Korea also increased in 2021, by +49.4% y-o-y to 2.8 mln tonnes, with South Korea holding a 9.4% share. Shipments to Mainland China declined marginally by -2.9% y-o-y in 2021 to 4.0 mln tonnes, and to Taiwan by -21.4% y-o-y to 1.7 mln tonnes”, the shipbroker concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide