Russia's exports of liquefied natural gas rose 8.6% in January to April to 11.4 million metric tons from the same period last year due to supplies from the Arctic LNG 2 project, which reached 1 million tons in the first four months of the year, preliminary LSEG data showed on Tuesday. US sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict have restrained Russian LNG exports, particularly from the Arctic LNG 2 plant, where operations have been hindered owing to difficulty securing buyers. In April alone, total Russian exports of LNG rose 13.2% from a year ago to 2.92 million tons. Data also showed that Russian LNG exports to Europe in January to April jumped 20.8% year-on-year to 6.4 million tons. In April, they rose to around 1.6 million tons from 1.2 million tons a year earlier. In January, EU countries gave their final approval to ban Russian gas imports by late-2027. Total exports from Novatek's Yamal LNG plant in the January to April period fell by 1.5% year-on-year to 6.5 million tons. Asia-oriented Sakhalin-2, controlled by Gazprom, exported 3.7 million tons in the first four months of the year, up from 3.6 million tons during the same period last year.
