Yamal LNG

Yamal LNG project was proposed when the company with the same name and controlled by Gennady Timchenko and Pyotr Kolbin got a license for the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye gas field in 2005. Novatek took control of Yamal LNG in 2009. Another project named Yamal LNG was proposed by Gazprom. In November 2008, Gazprom announced that it prepared a list of potential partners for the LNG plant of the Yamal project. Although the list was not disclosed, Gazprom indicated that ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were included on the list. Also Royal Dutch Shell, Repsol YPF and Petro-Canada were mentioned as potential partners. In October 2010, the Novatek's project was chosen by the Russian government as a pilot project. The groundbreaking ceremony for the port construction was held in July 2012; however, construction of the port itself began in 2013.

As of 7 April 2014, the Yamal LNG OJSC is Novatek (60% stake), China's CNPC (20% stake) and France's Total (20% stake).

In December 2014, amid the 2014–15 Russian financial crisis, the Russian government gave a 150 billion rouble subsidy to the project.

The commercial operation of the port and first LNG train (LNG purification facility) were launched on 8 December 2017 by starting loading the first LNG carrier named after the late CEO of Total Christophe de Margerie. The loading was ceremonially launched by president Vladimir Putin in the presence of Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih.

According to Novatek on 22 October 2019, the natural gas reserves in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug represent 80% of Russia's natural gas and 15% of the world's natural gas supply.

In 2021, Yamal LNG was ranked no. 30 among 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI). The plant is expected to produce a total of 926 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas from the South Tambey field and is considered by some to be the 'crown jewel' of the Northern Sea Route.

In 2024 and 2025, Russia’s Yamal LNG project remained a major source of liquefied natural gas for the European Union, even as the EU pledged to ban Russian LNG imports by 2027. Shipments from Yamal LNG to EU terminals in 2025 totaled roughly 15 million tonnes – about one-seventh of the bloc’s total LNG imports, generating an estimated €7.2 billion in revenue for Russia, according to data from the NGO Urgewald. This volume was on par with 2024 levels and represented over 76% of Yamal’s global LNG exports in 2025 (up from ~75% in 2024).

2026 European import surge

During the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, European imports of liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG project increased significantly amid fears of disruptions to Middle Eastern energy supplies.

According to shipping data analysed by the environmental organisation Urgewald and reported by The Independent, the European Union imported a £3bn record volume of Yamal LNG between January and April 2026 despite ongoing efforts to reduce dependence on Russian energy exports following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to a Kpler shipping data analysis published by EUobserver, during this period, the European Union received 91 cargoes from the Yamal LNG project, accounting for approximately 98% of the facility's exports during that period.

Reuters reported that the escalation of conflict involving Iran and instability surrounding the Strait of Hormuz contributed to renewed European demand for Russian LNG exports, cushioning the impact of broader energy market disruptions.

United States sanctions beginning September 2019

Following the 14 September 2019 attack by Iran on Saudi Arabian oil fields at Khurais and Abqaiq (Biqayq in Arabic) during the 2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis, the United States imposed sanctions under executive order 13846 against several companies including Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman and Ship Management Company Ltd and the Cosco Shipping Tanker Dalian (大連中遠海運油品運輸有限公司) which are two Cosco Shipping Company subsidiaries that are supporting LNG shipments from Sabetta. As of late September 2019, the Joint Venture TC LNG between the Cosco Shipping Tanker Dalian company (50% stake) and the Canadian firm Teekay is the China LNG Shipping Ltd (CLNG) which has more than one third of Sabetta's LNG ice fleet, six ARC7 LNG tankers: Eduard Toll (Russian: «Эдуард Толль»), Rudolf Samoilovich (Russian: «Рудольф Самойлович»), Nikolay Evgenov (Russian: «Николай Евгенов»), Vladimir Voronin (Russian: «Владимир Воронин») all of which are operating, Georgy Ushakov (Russian: «Георгий Ушаков») which is going to Sabetta after sea trials, and Yakov Gakkel (Russian: «Яков Гаккель») which is under sea trials at a South Korean shipyard. Also affected are five ARC7 tankers which Dynagas will supply in a partnership between Sinotrans&CSC and CLNG (25.5% stake), as well as three ARC7 tankers from a joint venture between the Cosco subsidiary Shanghai LNG and Japan's MOL (株式会社商船三井). However, these former five and later three ARC7 tankers are not directly sanctioned but US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) rules require caution to be exercised in the former. Of the fifteen ARC7 tankers operating out of Sabetta, only Sovcomflot's Christophe de Margerie is not affected by the sanctions. Although these ships have been serviced at Honningsvåg, Norway, this will be phased out and future LNG tanker shipments along the Northern Sea Route may occur between Murmansk and Kamchatka in Russia coastal waters. On 30 January 2020, the United States lifted sanctions on Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian) and its TC LNG.