The United States has announced its desire to disrupt the Russian Arctic LNG-2 project

The United States faces the task of ensuring the failure of the Russian project for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) Arctic LNG-2, which is being implemented by NOVATEK, said US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Geoffrey Pyatt. The Wall Street Journal reports this.

Washington is using a number of sanctions to undermine the project; the United States is preventing Russia from obtaining specialized tankers necessary for gas transportation, the publication notes.

Demand for LNG is growing around the world amid a desire to abandon more environmentally polluting coal, writes WSJ. Supply is also growing as liquefied natural gas exporters such as Qatar have plans to expand production.

Assistant Secretary of State Payette has previously stated the US desire to prevent the implementation of Arctic LNG-2. “Our goal is to kill this project. And we do this by introducing sanctions, working with our G7 partners,” he said late last year.

Russian authorities have repeatedly called Western sanctions illegal and illegitimate; President Vladimir Putin has said that the use of restrictive measures is an unfair way to compete.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the world community should pay attention to US statements about plans to destroy Arctic LNG-2 and take into account the incidents that occurred with Nord Stream. In the fall of 2022, an explosion occurred on gas pipelines; Putin stated that the United States was involved in the incident.

Arctic LNG 2 came under US sanctions in November 2023. The project involves the construction of three technological lines with a capacity of 6.6 million tons each. The resource base of the plant is the Utrenneye (Salmanovskoye) field on the Gydan Peninsula in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.