A gas carrier has delivered a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Russia to China after almost half a year at sea, LSEG ship-tracking data showed, with Russia facing challenges to sell LNG due to Western sanctions over Ukraine.
According to the data, gas carrier Perle docked at China's Beihai LNG terminal on Tuesday (May 19, 2026). It took the cargo from Russia's LNG Portovaya, which is under U.S. sanctions, on December 8.
Depending on the route, it usually takes up to 45 days to deliver an LNG cargo from Russia to Asia.
Russia's largest LNG producer Novatek uses the same loading outlet in China for cargoes from its Arctic LNG 2 plant, which is also under sanctions.
That's the third cargo supplied to China from the plant on the Baltic Sea since Washington imposed sanctions in February 2025. The first cargo was delivered last December.
In the early stages of its operations, most cargoes from Portovaya were delivered to Türkiye and Greece. Supply markets subsequently widened to China, Spain and Italy.