Russia’s heavily-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 facility has increased production to record levels, Bloomberg reported on October 1.

The average daily output for September, climbed to 17.9mn cubic metres, representing a 14% hike from August, which was previously the facility’s record high, since it began production in December 2023.

The Novatek-led facility is now in a race against time as it seeks to deliver as many cargoes as possible before the winter ice closes the Northern Sea Route, which is expected to occur in November.

The Arctic LNG 2 terminal, located in Sabetta in northwestern Siberia on the Gydan Peninsula, delivered its first cargo in late August to China’s southern Beihai terminal.

Since then, the huge facility has shipped seven cargoes to China, which has defiantly shrugged off US sanctions, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in early September.

The Arctic LNG 2 terminal was unable to find any buyers last summer, as countries feared harsh retaliation for skirting US sanctions, which were announced one month before the facility began producing LNG.

Instead, cargoes were stored in Russia’s Far East region at the Koryak floating storage unit located off Kamchatka. Most of the vessels delivering LNG cargoes to the Beihai terminal have loaded at Koryak.

In late September, satellite images appeared to show that the Arctic LNG 2 plant also loaded its first cargo at the facility’s second liquefaction train, which would mark a huge step forward in unshackling the massive LNG plant.

A lack of Arc7-class icebreakers prevents Russia shipping cargoes through the Northern Sea Route through winters. Shipbuilders in Japan and South Korea are also unable to sell vessels to Russia and Moscow’s attempts to build icebreakers at the country’s Zvezda shipyard near Vladivostok have been plagued by severe delays.