US plans to obstruct development of new gas projects in Russia
Illustrative photo (photo: Getty Images)
The US is focused on preventing Russia from developing new gas projects. Additionally, the US plans to continue imposing sanctions on Russian oil tankers, reports S&P Global.
"We're trying to drive down Russia's oil and gas revenue as fast as we can, without destabilizing our global energy market," said US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Jeffrey Payette at the FT Commodities Global Summit.
"You should expect the continued steady drumbeat of US and coalition enforcement actions," he added.
According to him, Moscow's revenues from the oil tax have decreased by almost 30% compared to 2022, and the total reduction in Russia's oil export revenues is $2.6 billion compared to November 2022.
"We're going to stick to this course of action and we're gonna stick to it as long as is necessary in order to change Russia's behavior and this brutal and unprovoked war," he said.
Payette also pointed to recent reports that Russian Novatek has suspended production at its Arctic LNG 2 project due to sanctions and a shortage of gas tankers.
"What I can tell you is we're very focused on ensuring that Russia is not able to develop new projects," he said.
The energy giant Novatek is forced to scale back its massive Arctic LNG-2 project after Western sanctions limited its access to ice-class tankers, instead focusing on developing its project in the ice-free port of Murmansk.
New project
It is planned that the Murmansk LNG project will be even larger than Arctic LNG 2, with a final capacity of 20.4 million tons per year. Production of the first two lines is expected to be launched by the end of 2027, with the last line planned for launch in 2029.
One of the advantages of the Murmansk project compared to Arctic LNG 2 will be access to a non-freezing port in the Barents Sea.
"All attention is now on Murmansk, ice-class tankers are not needed there," the source said.
