The LNG carrier Valera departed the Tieshan terminal at the Port of Beihai in southern China’s Guangxi region at 0631 GMT on Dec. 9, with a draft of 9.8 meters, down from 11.1 meters upon its arrival the previous day, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

This marked the first carrier from Gazprom’s sanctioned Portovaya LNG project export facility in western Russia’s Leningrad Oblast since deliveries of sanctioned Russian cargoes began this summer, CAS data showed.

The tanker departed the region around the Portovyy floating storage unit, which services the Gazprom project, in late October, according to CAS data. It then voyaged for nearly six weeks, traveling around the Cape of Good Hope to the Beihai terminal.

Until now, all sanctioned Russian LNG arriving at the Chinese terminal had originated from Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project, with the first shipment arriving in late August.

The ship is the 20th Russia-linked LNG tanker to call at Beihai since the sanctioned flows began and the 11th such ship to voyage to the site since the UK announced sanctions on the terminal on Oct. 15.

The Northern Sea Route is expected to be closed to all but Arc7-class LNG carriers, effectively limiting Russia’s ability to maintain earlier export levels from Arctic LNG 2 during the winter months.

Only the Christophe de Margerie, an Arc7-class ship, is expected to continue transiting the route, with other conventional tankers unable to navigate the increasingly harsh ice conditions.

Sanctions

The US Department of State sanctioned the Portovaya export facility in January.

Since the start of 2025, the project has exported roughly 520,000 metric tons (717 million cu m) of LNG, with most of the volumes since January — about 350,000 mt — going to the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, according to data from S&P Global Energy CERA.

This marked a significant decline from the nearly 1.6 million mt exported in 2024, before the US sanctions, when the EU and Turkey were major offtakers.

Portovaya LNG has a nameplate capacity of 1.5 million mt/year and began exporting LNG in September 2022.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office blacklisted the Beihai LNG terminal and seven tankers involved in Russian LNG transit as part of a wave of sanctions in October.

Shortly after, the EU confirmed a ban on all imports of Russian LNG starting in 2027 as part of its 19th sanctions package.

EU legislators said Dec. 3 that they had reached a provisional agreement on a broader legislative ban on all Russian LNG starting Jan. 1, 2027 — in line with the sanctions — and all Russian pipeline gas by Nov. 1, 2027. The deal still requires a vote from the full European Parliament and Council.

The EU legislation would be more durable than the sanctions, which must be renewed every six months by a unanimous vote of the Council.

The UK also plans to ban maritime services, such as insurance, for Russian LNG transit to third countries in 2026, the FCDO said on Nov. 12, as it aims to cut off the use of UK-linked ships and services in transporting Russian LNG.

“This action will significantly reduce Russian exports of LNG and directly cut off access to the UK’s world-leading maritime services,” the government office said. “The ban will be phased in over 2026 in lockstep with our European partners.”