"South Korea's Russian LNG Imports Hit Nearly Five-Year High in September"

Russian TASS Report
Imports Rise Amid Disruptions to Qatar's LNG Supply

South Korea's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in September reached their highest level in about five years.

On the 16th (local time), Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported that an analysis of Korea Customs Service data showed South Korea imported a total of 3.56 million metric tons of LNG last month, worth approximately $3 billion.

Australia was the largest supplier, with 1.33 million metric tons, followed by the United States with 436,000 metric tons and Canada with 426,000 metric tons. South Korea imported 326,000 metric tons of Russian LNG, worth approximately $250 million, the agency reported. This was the largest volume of Russian LNG imports since November 2021.

The agency cited disruptions to Qatar's supply as the reason for the increase in South Korea's imports of Russian LNG. Qatar, one of South Korea's major LNG suppliers, halted LNG production in early March following Iranian airstrikes. State-owned QatarEnergy subsequently declared force majeure on its LNG supply contracts, leaving supplies to South Korea suspended, the agency explained.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom plan to completely ban the provision of services related to the transport and insurance of Russian LNG starting in January 2027, as part of sanctions against Russia. However, Russian LNG imported by South Korea and Japan under existing long-term supply contracts will be exempt from the sanctions until March 2028.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.