Russia Boosted LNG Exports to Europe by 20% in 2022 -Refinitiv Data

MOSCOW, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Russia supplied Europe with some 17 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year, up about 20% from 2021 volumes, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Tuesday, partially offsetting a steep decline in Russian pipeline gas exports.

Europe has been boosting imports of seaborne LNG – gas transported in liquid form at minus 160 degrees Celsius (minus 256 Fahrenheit) – amid a cut in pipeline gas supplies from Russia due to a deep political crisis over Ukraine.

Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines plummeted to a post-Soviet low in 2022 as its largest customer cut imports due to the conflict in Ukraine, and a major pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts.

At the same time, Russia increased its total LNG exports in 2022 by 8.6% to around 33 million tonnes (around 45 billion cubic meters), of which more than half was shipped to Europe, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Russia’s largest LNG producer Novatek provided the bulk of the supplies, having shipped 20.8 million tonnes from the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic and 700,000 tonnes from Kriogaz-Vysotsk on the Baltic Sea, according to Refinitiv Eikon.

The Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 project in the Pacific part of Russia increased its LNG supplies by 11% to 11.2 million tonnes in 2022.

Gazprom and Novatek have not responded to requests for comments.

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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