A second vessel transporting LNG from Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 terminal has docked at a Chinese port, Reuters reported on September 6 citing ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

The port of Tieshan in China’s southern Guangxi province accepted the Russian-flagged tanker carrying a cargo of approximately 150,000 cubic metres of the super-chilled fuel. The vessel loaded at the heavily-sanctioned export terminal in Sabetta, northwestern Siberia on July 19.

In late August, the Beihai LNG terminal in southern China accepted the Arctic Mulan vessel from the sanctioned Novatek terminal in the Gydan Peninsula. It marked the first LNG tanker to be accepted from the Arctic LNG 2 terminal since it was sanctioned in November 2023, one month before the plant came online.

The first LNG cargo accepted in China also came just days before Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin Xi to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

While Beijing flaunted Western sanctions accepting the LNG cargo delivery, China and Russia also cozied up with the announcement of a "legally binding memorandum" on the construction of a second gas pipeline to China, Power of Siberia 2.

The gas pipeline will also include a transit branch, Soyuz Vostok, that will run across Mongolian territory.

Meanwhile more LNG tankers could be on the way from the Arctic LNG 2 plant to China. Ship tracking data from LSEG indicates that two more LNG vessels are currently moored in Russia’s Far East region of Kamchatka. Additionally, another tanker is also in the South China Sea between Hainan Island and Taiwan.

Moscow is desperate to ramp-up exports from the Arctic LNG 2 terminal, which is vital for Russia to achieve its goal of holding a 30% share of the global LNG market by 2035.

To reach the Kremlin’s target, Russia’s production would need to triple from its 2022 level of 32.5mn to 100mn tonnes in 2035.