Russian LNG exports become reliant on EU ports from November to June because thick ice prevents traditional LNG vessels from accessing Yamal LNG’s Arctic terminals of gas producer Novatek.
Cargoes are transported via special ice-breaking vessels to EU hubs, where they are re-loaded, via ship-to-ship transfer (STS), into regular gas carriers and exported to countries including China, Taiwan, India and Turkey.
Novatek, Russia’s largest LNG producer and Yamal LNG’s main shareholder, has long-term contracts to sell over 17 million tonnes per year of LNG to Europe to firms such as state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), oil majors Shell and TotalEnergies, German company Securing Energy For Europe (SEFE) and global commodity trader Gunvor.