Novatek, Russia's leading producer of LNG, said it had sold a 10pc stake in March in its Arctic LNG 2 project, now being built, for 308.6 billion roubles.

Its shares rose by 1.7pc in Moscow by 1123 GMT.

Excluding the effect from the disposal of interests in subsidiaries and joint ventures, normalised profit in the second quarter rose by 18.4 percent to 64.3 billion roubles.

The company said revenues in April-June rose to 218.5 billion roubles as it ramped up production at its Yamal LNG plant.