Sanctions hit Russian LNG – media

The decline of Russian LNG exports in 2025: the impact of sanctions and new markets

Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports fell by 2%, reaching 28.4 million metric tons between January and November 2025. This was a result of international sanctions imposed in response to military actions against Ukraine.

The restrictive measures adopted by the United States, among others, significantly impacted the ambitious Russian Arctic LNG 2 project. It was supposed to be a key element in increasing gas supplies to global markets, but due to sanctions, its potential remained unrealized. In October 2025, Washington imposed restrictions against major Russian energy giants such as Rosneft and Lukoil, which greatly affected Russia’s entire energy sector, including LNG supplies.

Despite the overall annual decrease in exports, November saw a 10% growth compared to the same period last year — to 3.19 million tons. This was due to the reorientation of gas supplies from Arctic LNG 2 to the Chinese market. November’s LNG export from this project decreased to 224,000 tons compared to 298,000 tons in October, totaling 1.1 million tons since the beginning of the year. Of these, 1 million tons were supplied to Chinese buyers.

Exports to Europe, on the other hand, continue to decline. In the first 11 months of 2025, they decreased by 16% compared to the same period last year, reaching 12.3 million tons. Russian gas is sold to China at a discount of 30-40%, which has become a lucrative deal for Chinese companies amid Russia’s international isolation.