China gets ninth cargo from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 despite sanctions

SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China has received a ninth cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, LSEG and Kpler data show, despite U.S. and EU sanctions imposed on the project.

The Arctic Metagaz tanker, which is also subject to Western sanctions, berthed at China's Beihai LNG Terminal in the southwestern region of Guangxi on October 14, Kpler's data showed.

The tanker's registered owner is Lathyrus Shipping and its commercial manager is Ocean Speedstar Solutions, both with registered addresses in Mumbai, according to shipping database Equasis.

It had picked up a cargo from the Saam floating storage unit in Murmansk, northwest Russia, on July 17, a facility only used for handling LNG from Arctic LNG 2, according to Kpler.

It departed Beihai terminal on October 15.

PipeChina, operator of the Beihai LNG Terminal, did not respond to a Reuters request for immediate comment.

Arctic LNG 2 is 60%-owned by Russian gas producer Novatek NVTK.MM. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) 600938.SS each hold 10% stakes.

It had been set to become one of Russia's largest LNG plants, with an eventual annual output of 19.8 million metric tons, before it was placed under U.S. sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Below are the tankers that have delivered Arctic LNG 2 cargoes to Beihai, according to Kpler data:

Reuters could not find contact information for the registered owner and ship or commercial manager of each tanker at the time of its discharge.

PipeChina did not respond to requests for comment on each of the earlier deliveries.