Supplies of liquefied natural gas from Russia to China soared to a record level in November, as buyers, seeking cheaper fuel, effectively ignored the risk of Western sanctions. This is reported by Bloomberg.
Supplies of supercooled gas from Russia more than doubled compared to last year, reaching 1.6 million tons last month, according to customs data published over the weekend. The growth allowed Russia to surpass Australia and become China's second-largest supplier after Qatar.
Russia is betting on the largest gas market in Asia to compensate for the reduction in supplies to Europe, which has been the largest buyer for decades. To enhance its attractiveness, Moscow had to lower prices. According to customs data, in November its LNG was the cheapest among 12 suppliers to China, trading about 10% below the average level at $9.85 per million British thermal units.
Cumulative imports on an annual basis increased for the first time in more than a year, after a period when weak demand restrained needs.
In August, China began accepting shipments from the Russian sanctioned plant 'Arctic LNG-2' through a remote terminal in Beihai. However, the Russian enterprise had to cut production as winter ice complicates exports.