Russia faces mighty obstacle amid western LNG sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Port of Murmansk

SINGAPORE: US sanctions pose a major obstacle to Russia’s plans to increase exports of seaborne liquefied natural gas (LNG) to offset the decline in pipeline exports to Europe, analysts say, as expectations mount of delays to a flagship project.

Russia, the world’s fourth-largest LNG producer after the United States, Qatar and Australia, aims to increase its share of the global market to around a fifth from 8% now by tripling its output to more than 100 million tonnes by 2030 to 2035, according to analysts.