Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that Russia has postponed its goal of producing 100 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for several years to come, due to Western sanctions imposed on the energy sector, which have created significant obstacles.
Novak explained that these restrictions have negatively affected the implementation of some key projects and slowed down the planned expansion process, directly impacting Russia’s plans to increase its share of the global LNG market to 20% by 2035, noting that its current share is about 8%. He pointed out that technical and financial problems, especially those related to the “Arctic LNG 2” project, have slowed down the pace of progress.
Regarding production, he confirmed that oil and gas condensate production this year will remain close to 2024 levels, i.e., about 516 million tons, which exceeds previous expectations that indicated a slight decrease. LNG production also increased in 2024 by 5.4% to 34.7 million tons, but did not achieve the set target.
This comes at a time when the European Union is preparing to impose a complete ban on imports of Russian LNG starting from the beginning of 2027, which threatens to reduce one of Moscow’s most important markets. In addition, Russia faces increasing competition from the United States in the European market and from Qatar in the Asian markets, which makes it more difficult to redirect its energy exports.
