Gas Carrier Delivers Russian LNG To China After Remaining At Sea For 6 Months

A gas carrier successfully delivered Russian LNG to China after spending half a year at sea, as Moscow faces difficulties in exporting its oil and gas cargoes due to Western sanctions over Ukraine.

In normal circumstances, it usually takes around 45 days to deliver Russian LNG to Asia.

Gas Carrier Perle ‌arrived ⁠at southern China’s Beihai LNG terminal ⁠from Russia’s Portovaya LNG plant, which is ​under U.S. sanctions.

It loaded the cargo on December 8, 2025 and arrived at its destination after 6 months.

The largest LNG producer in Russia, Novatek, also uses the same loading outlet in China for cargoes from its Arctic LNG 2 Plant, which was placed under sanctions by the U.S in February 2025.

This shipment marks the third cargo supplied to China from the plant located on the Baltic Sea.

​The first post-sanctions cargo was delivered to the same Chinese terminal in December 2025, and the second arrived in April.

When it began operating, the Prtovaya delivered its cargo mostly to Greece and Turkiye, but later China, Italy and Spain also started buying Russian LNG from this plant.

However, the LNG tanker Kunpeng, which was en route from the plant to India in April, never arrived to deliver its cargo.

The vessel remained off the coast of Malaysia after New Delhi refused to buy LNG from the sanctioned facility.

However, China’s Beihai LNG terminal has been accepting Russian cargo tankers from other sanctioned projects and facilities, such as the Arctic LNG 2 project.