Russian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe fell 1.9% to 15.8 million metric tons in 2023, and LNG exports to Asia fell 11% to 14.9 million tons, LSEG data showed on Tuesday.

Europe increased purchases of LNG from global producers in 2023 while sharply cutting its imports of Russian pipeline gas in response to the conflict in Ukraine.

Overall LNG exports from Russia were down 6% last year to 31 million tons due to planned repairs at plants during the summer. But in December 2023, Russian LNG exports reached a record level of 3.2 million tons, of which 1.9 million tons were from Yamal LNG.

Russia’s largest LNG producer, Novatek NVTK.MM provided the bulk of the exports, shipping 18.7 million tons from the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic and 800,000 tons from Kriogaz-Vysotsk on the Baltic Sea, according to preliminary LSEG data.

The Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 project in the Pacific part of Russia reduced its LNG exports by 10% to 10.1 million tons in 2023.

Launched in September 2022, the medium-tonnage Gazprom LNG Portovaya project exported 1.4 million tons LNG in 2023, mainly to Turkey and Greece, although three shipments went to China, one of them via the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic.

Gazprom and Novatek did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: Reuters reported by Oksana Kobzeva