Russia’s liquefied natural gas exports to China surged to a record in November, as buyers shrugged off the risk of Western sanctions to access the cheaper fuel.
Deliveries of the super-chilled gas from Russia more than doubled from a year earlier to 1.6 million metric tons last month, customs data released over the weekend showed. The jump saw Russia overtake Australia to become China’s biggest supplier after Qatar.
Russia has turned to Asia’s biggest gas market to offset declining shipments to Europe, which was Moscow’s biggest buyer for decades until the invasion of Ukraine. It has had to cut prices to increase its appeal — its LNG was the cheapest among the 12 suppliers to China and about 10 percent below the average at $9.85 a million British thermal units in November, the customs data showed.
Total imports had an annual increase for the first time in more than a year, after weak demand tempered requirements.
