Russian Gazprom sends first LNG shipment from Portovaya facility to Spain

Russian gas company Gazprom has sent its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Portovaya loading facility on the Baltic Sea coast to Spain. Reuters reported this today, citing LSEG company records. Unlike some other Russian energy commodities, such as oil, LNG is not subject to Western sanctions.

The Cool Rover tanker loaded LNG from the Marshal Vasilevsky floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). Ship-tracking data showed that the tanker had already unloaded its cargo of liquefied gas at Enagás's LNG terminal in the southern Spanish port of Huelva.

The Kremlin controls Gazprom. The company has virtually lost access to the European market for gas delivered by pipeline, which was previously one of Moscow's main sources of foreign currency revenue. The West has significantly restricted trade with Russia in retaliation for its military invasion of Ukraine. Although the European Union has not banned Russian gas imports, it is seeking to end its dependence on energy commodity supplies from Russia. The EU is offsetting the decline in Russian gas supplies partly through LNG imports.

Reuters, citing information from Gazprom and its own calculations, reports that Russia delivered a total of about 63.8 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe by various pipeline routes in 2022. Last year, the volume of gas delivered fell by 55.6 percent to 28.3 billion cubic metres.

The LNG facility at Portovaya has a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year. It was commissioned in September 2022, when Russia was already facing Western sanctions. Most LNG from the Portovaya facility is sent to Turkey or Greece. So far, three shipments have gone to China.