MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. South Korea purchased 326,000 tonnes of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth $250 million in September, marking its largest monthly import volume from Russia since November 2021, a TASS analysis of the country’s customs data showed.
Overall, South Korea’s total LNG imports in September reached 3.56 million tonnes (down 8% year-on-year, but up 14% from August 2026), valued at $3 billion. The leading suppliers were Australia (1.33 million tonnes), the United States (436,000 tonnes), and Canada (426,000 tonnes).
Gas shipments from Qatar, one of South Korea’s major LNG partners, remain suspended. In early March, Qatar halted liquefied gas production following Iranian airstrikes. Subsequently, state-owned QatarEnergy declared force majeure on LNG supplies.
Additionally, 414,000 tonnes were supplied by Malaysia, 203,000 tonnes by Peru, 165,000 tonnes were re-exported from China, and 123,000 tonnes came from Indonesia. Other nations supplied less than 100,000 tonnes each.
In January-September 2026, South Korea reduced total LNG imports by 6.4% to 32.9 million tonnes, valued at $20.6 billion. In particular, LNG shipments from Russia fell by 12.7% to 1.41 million tonnes, worth $853 million.
Russia currently operates two large-scale LNG projects: Yamal LNG and Sakhalin-2. Another project, Arctic LNG 2 (the first train), has not yet been officially launched, though individual shipments to China have been reported. Russia also runs two mid-scale Baltic LNG plants - Gazprom LNG Portovaya and Cryogas-Vysotsk - both sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury.