LNG carrier Alexey Kosygin. Photo courtesy Zvezda Shipbuilding
By Bloomberg News (Bloomberg) — Russia’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant is expected to receive two more domestically constructed ice-class liquefied natural gas carriers in 2026, further unlocking the project’s export potential.
“Last year, the lead Arc7 gas carrier, designed by a foreign company, was delivered, and construction of two more will be completed this year,” Anton Alikhanov, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister, said on Wednesday at a parliamentary meeting, according to Interfax.
The first Russia-built Arc7 LNG tanker, Alexey Kosygin, was completed in late 2025 and started exporting fuel from Arctic LNG 2 last month. Additional tankers will help to increase output and exports from the facility, which has struggled to ramp up operations during the winter months because standard tankers can’t traverse the icy waters.
Arc7 vessels are able to break ice as much as 2 meters (6.6 feet) thick and, depending on weather, cross some parts of Russia’s Arctic Northern Sea route without icebreaker escort, reducing shipping costs. Until the Alexey Kosygin came into service, Arctic LNG 2 had only one Arc7 vessel at its disposal, the Christophe de Margerie.
The Arctic LNG 2 plant, led by Novatek PJSC, is key to Russia’s ambitions to triple its production of super-chilled fuel to 100 million tons a year. However, Western restrictions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced Moscow to delay the timeframe for this target.
The Alexey Kosygin, also sanctioned by the US, was build at Russia’s Zvezda shipyard specifically for Arctic LNG 2. Its delivery was initially expected in early 2023, but restrictions on equipment and lack of domestic expertise delayed the construction.
The Zvezda shipyard built two more tankers with the same ice class, the Pyotr Stolypin, and the Sergei Witte in 2023. However, just like the Alexey Kosygin before, the vessels require additional work and trials before they can come online.
Given the prolonged delays the Alexey Kosygin faced earlier, “completion of two Arc7 vessels from Zvezda already this year could be optimistic as sanctions have cut off access to key equipment, engineering support and expertise,” said Laura Page, natural gas and LNG analyst at research firm Kpler.
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.
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