MOSCOW: Exports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) along the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route remained at the same level as last year in the 2023 navigation season, Kommersant newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing data from Kpler.

Russia’s largest LNG producer Novatek shipped a total of 31 LNG cargoes, or 2.27 million tons, from the Yamal LNG project to Asia during the 2023 season, according to Kpler data quoted by Kommersant.

Novatek has not commented the data, Kommersant said.

The company’s shipments in 2023 are in line with last year, when the company supplied 2.26 million tons of LNG via the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route to Asia.

Russia’s LNG production this year is expected to come in at 30 million tons, or 8% of global output, down from around 33 million tons in 2022, mainly due to maintenance at Yamal LNG.

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Russia plans to boost its LNG production to around 100 million tons annually by 2030 and to carve a 20% share of the global LNG market.

The plans could be hampered by sanctions from the United States against the Arctic LNG 2 project, which is expected to start operations by the year-end.