Russia’s ambitious LNG plans have so far based on two producing assets – the Gazprom-operated Sakhalin LNG and the NOVATEK-operated Yamal LNG. The addition of Yamal LNG into its portfolio has helped to boost its clout (growing from 4% of global LNG trade to 8% currently) yet the actual numbers of assets and exports taking place remains still a far cry from what Russia’s energy authorities had envisaged. Luckily for Moscow, climate change and the warming of Arctic seas in particular might come in very handy for Russian exporters – this year will most probably the Northern Sea Route’s (NSR) best year in terms of transported volumes and the length of the navigation season. Amongst all of this, Russia has delivered its first LNG cargo to Japan via the NSR. Premises Let’s start first with the dry statistics. July 23 the LNG tanker Vladimir Rusanov arrived to Ohgishima LNG […]