Attempts by Novatek and government officials to find buyers for gas from Russia's largest LNG project have so far yielded no results. India, which eagerly buys Russian oil at a discount, does not want to touch the fuel offered by Arctic LNG 2, which is on the US blacklist.

India has no plans to buy this LNG, Oil Minister Pankaj Jain said on Friday (quoted by Reuters):

We will not buy [supplies from] Arctic LNG 2. We do not buy any sanctioned goods. We do not touch anything that is subject to broad sanctions.
The project fell under US restrictions late last year, as a result of which it was unable to begin exports as planned at the beginning of this year. In August, Novatek finally tried to begin exporting the fuel, but the US quickly imposed sanctions on nine tankers associated with Arctic LNG 2.

So far, three tankers have already taken on gas five times at the Arctic LNG 2 plant, but not a single cargo has been delivered to any buyer. Two cargoes were transferred to the Saam UGSG floating storage facility in the Murmansk region. Then the 21-year-old Everest Energy tanker, which is not suitable for sailing in ice, took on gas again at Arctic LNG 2 and headed to Asia along the Northern Sea Route. Asya Energy followed suit. None of them are ice-class tankers and have not received permission from Glavsevmorput.

The weather provides an opportunity to travel along the Arctic route: until the end of October, it will not be covered with ice that is impassable for such tankers.

Russian officials and top managers of Novatek have been creating a shadow fleet for Arctic LNG 2 and looking for buyers for about six months, Bloomberg reported. The company's representatives have made numerous attempts to conclude deals in China and other Asian countries. To persuade them to accept the sanctioned cargo, they are ready to give a 40% discount.