Bloomberg: Russia supplies gas to China to circumvent US sanctions

A Russian liquefied natural gas export plant in the Baltics has shipped the first shipment of gas to China after the US imposed sanctions against it in January 2025.

Bloomberg writes about this.

According to media reports, in October, the Russian tanker Valera loaded gas at a Gazprom plant in the Baltic Sea, and on December 8, it arrived at the Beihai import terminal in southern China.

Both the ship and the plant are under US sanctions.

Bloomberg notes that China does not recognize unilateral sanctions and has increased purchases of Russian gas in recent months, strengthening energy ties between Moscow and Beijing.

China has also ignored US calls to stop buying Russian oil, which is likely to be a topic of talks between Washington and New Delhi this week.

In addition to the Portova plant, Russia has two more liquefied natural gas export plants on the Baltic Sea: in Vysotsk and in Siberia, the latter of which began supplying gas to China at the end of August.

Total Russian LNG supplies to China, including non-sanctioned plants, increased by about 14% from September to November compared to last year.

Previously, satellite images showed that the cargo from the Portovaya was being transferred to another vessel registered in Hong Kong, which was sending false signals about its location.

Satellites spotted it near China last month, and the shipʼs current whereabouts are unknown.

• On October 23, the United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the two largest Russian oil and gas companies. A number of their subsidiaries were also added to the sanctions list.
• After that, Reuters wrote that Chinaʼs state-owned oil companies suspended purchases of Russian oil transported by sea.

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