This is Russia's first effort to open up new markets after the US imposed sanctions.
If successfully docked, this will be the first LNG shipment to India since US President Donald Trump announced last year that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had guaranteed that India would stop purchasing energy from Russia.
India has never publicly confirmed this commitment and said that purchase decisions are based on price, supply security and consumer interests.
As one of the world's largest energy importers, India is currently heavily affected by supply disruptions and rising prices due to the conflict in the Middle East as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Portovaya plant is small in scale, with a capacity of 1.5 million tons of LNG per year, and started operating in September 2022.
Export activities from this plant were disrupted by additional sanctions imposed in January 2025 related to the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions are aimed at weakening Russia's LNG production and export capacity, thereby reducing the country's trade revenue.
To date, Russia has supplied LNG from Portovaya to China's Beihai port, as well as from the LNG-2 Arctic project.
Previously, on April 15, Russian energy corporation Gazprom transported the second LNG shipment after sanctions from the Portovaya plant to China, according to LSEG data.
If India buys LNG from Russia, this will create a new market in the context that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to shift LNG exports away from Europe before the European Union bans Russian LNG imports from 2027.
According to LSEG, the Kunpeng ship has a capacity of 138,200m3 and is heading towards the LNG import port of Dahej in western India.
If this shipment is successfully delivered, it will open up a second market for sanctioned Russian LNG, as all previous shipments from sanctioned facilities are transferred to China's Beihai port," said Martin Senior, in charge of LNG valuation at the Argus specialized publication.
Before being sanctioned, Portovaya exported an average of 2 shipments per month in winter. Since March 2025, in addition to 2 shipments to China, this factory also sends 1 shipment per month to the Kaliningrad overseas territory of Russia.
