Data shows that Russia's LNG exports in January fell by 5%.

LSEG's preliminary data on Monday showed that Russia's LNG exports in January were down 5% compared to a year ago, at 2.75 million metric tonnes.

Exports of LNG were down by 10% compared to December.

Due to U.S. sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has been unable to increase LNG exports. The new Arctic LNG 2 facility has effectively been frozen due to the Western sanctions.

The data show that Russia's exports of LNG to Europe have fallen 17.6% on an annual basis and 22% since December, to 1.4 millions tons.

Novatek's Yamal plant reduced exports by 5.6% on an annual basis in January, to 1.7 millions tons. Last month, its supplies to Europe fell by a fifth to 1.2 millions tons from 1.5 million tonnages in January and December of last year.

Sakhalin-2 (controlled by Gazprom) exported 960,000 tonnes from the Pacific Island in January. This is an increase of 8% compared to the same month last year.

The U.S. sanctioned Gazprom’s small-scale Portovaya LNG facility on the Baltic Sea shore in January. It exported an all-time low monthly export of 8,600 tonnes.

EU diplomats said the European Commission didn't propose an outright ban on Russian LNG as part of its latest sanctions package because the member states expressed concerns over securing alternative sources, including those from the United States.

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has stated that he wants to sell more U.S. LNG to the EU and will increase its availability. The EU is unsure when it will be able to secure additional U.S. LNG because the exports have already reached their maximum capacity. (Reporting and writing by Oksana Kobieva, Editing by David Goodman.)

(source: Reuters)