New terminal will join Beihai terminal, which has imported 41 cargoes since August 2025.

What: China is in the midst of preparations to ready the Longkou LNG terminal to receive cargoes from Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant.

Why: China needs a second terminal to take more volume from the huge facility, which has not found other customers due to fear of Western sanctions.

What Next: China’s imports of Russian LNG totaled 7.57 mn tonnes in 2025, but this number is certain to be topped, particularly vsince the Longkou terminal is located closer to Koryak floating storage unit where Arctic LNG 2’s cargoes are stored.

China is in the midst of unveiling a new LNG import terminal to take in more supply from Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant, Reuters reported on June 23 citing sources familiar with the matter.

China’s National Petroleum and Natural Gas Pipeline Network Group (PipeChina) broke ground on LNG import terminal in May 2020 in Longkou, Shandong Province. State-owned PipeChina built the facility in partnership with Nanshan Group.

Beijing hopes the new import terminal will receive its first cargo by October, having already completed the mechanical build phase. Commencing operations in October would be just in time for peak winter demand. The terminal will boast an import capacity of 5 mn tonnes per year (tpy).

Currently, only PipeChina's Beihai terminal in Guangxi Province is receiving deliveries from Arctic LNG 2. In August last year, the Arctic Mulan vessel delivered the first cargo from the sanctioned LNG facility just two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the nearby port city of Tianjin.

Unconcerned with the threat of Western sanctions, following this show of defiance by Xi, Russia has now delivered 41 cargoes, equal to about 2.6mn tonnes of LNG from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant to the Beihai import terminal.

Ship-tracking data from Kpler reveals that many of the cargoes have been delivered from the Koryak floating storage unit in Russia's Far East, where Arctic LNG 2 cargoes are stored and reloaded. Only three of the 41 cargoes delivered to Beihai were from Portovaya terminal, Russia’s other LNG plant that is under Western sanctions.

Once the Longkou terminal begins receiving cargoes it will almost double the supply that China can take in from Russia’s sanctioned facilities. The Beihai import terminal has an import capacity of 6 mn tpy.

A second Chinese LNG import terminal to receive cargoes would be a huge boon for Novatek’s struggling Arctic LNG 2 facility. The project was built at a price tag of $21 bn and Western sanctions were slapped on the facility in November 2023 just before Novatek begin producing super-chilled fuel.

The sanctions meant that maritime firms such as Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) were unable to operate Arc7 LNG tankers in a time charter with the Arctic LNG 2 project or sell the vessels directly to Novatek.

Additionally, South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean was forced to pull out of its contract to build six ice-class vessels. Moreover, the exit from Russia in 2023 of French firm GTT, which built the tankers’ gas membranes also created another hurdle.

The Northern Sea Route freezes and is unpassable from November to July without Arc7 icebreaking vessels. Without these vessels, the exporting season for Novatek to get cargoes from the facility in Sabetta, northwestern Siberia is severely shortened.

However, Arctic LNG 2 did get good news in June as its sanctioned state-controlled shipping group Sovcomflot received the Arc7 ice-class LNG carrier Konstantin Posyet from the country’s Zvezda shipyard.

Novatek is expected to have as many as four Arc7 icebreaking LNG carriers before the winter navigation season begins. The Christophe de Margerie, a South Korean-built Arc7 tanker that was originally assigned to the Yamal LNG facility has been redeployed following the imposition of Western sanctions and a fourth vessel is also expected to be launched before winter.

Indeed, it is shaping up to be a much better winter for Arctic LNG 2, particularly since the Longkou LNG terminal is also closer to the Koryak floating storage unit in Russia's Far East, where Arctic LNG 2 cargoes are stored and reloaded, significantly cutting down shipping time and cost.

Meanwhile, sources also told Reuters that PipeChina's Dalian LNG terminal, which has even better geographic location situated in northeastern China, is also being considered as ⁠a possible future import terminal for Arctic LNG 2’s cargoes.

Moscow had been hoping for Arctic LNG 2 to be a key contributor in its efforts to ramp up LNG exports. Russia has announced a target of tripling its LNG production from its 2022 level of 32.5 mn tpy to 100 mn tpy by 2035 and possessing a 30% share of the global LNG market.

However, Arctic LNG 2 has largely remained on the sidelines since it first began producing the super-cooled gas in December 2023. Operating at full capacity, the facility’s three liquefaction trains were expected to produce 19.8 mn tpy. But Novatek only in May 2025 started up the facility’s second liquefaction train and Train 3 is not expected to be finished until 2028.

Nevertheless, Moscow is taking steps in the right direction amid burgeoning energy ties between Russia and China.