US sanctions against Russia's oil giants won't work: WSJ explains why

Share: Russia has managed to circumvent US sanctions against the Arctic LNG 2 gas project with China's help, casting doubt on the effectiveness of new US restrictions on Lukoil and Rosneft. During the presidency of Joe Biden, the United States already introduced sanctions against this project, but gas from its facilities did not attract much attention from buyers for a long time.

As of August 2025, the situation has changed: Russia has dispatched 11 liquefied natural gas tankers from Arctic LNG 2, according to vessel tracking data. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal. China is interested in gas from the plant because it is offered at below-market prices and the country's demand for liquefied natural gas continues to grow. To minimize the risk of secondary US sanctions, China has earmarked the Beihai port specifically for Russian Arctic LNG.

No other LNG tanker has called at the port since the start of Beihai deliveries. Argus analyst Martin Senior explains this choice by the fact that the operator of the terminal - the state-owned China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network - owns mainly Chinese assets and has little dependence on the world financial system, which is based on the dollar. "This makes the port and its owner less vulnerable to the risk of secondary sanctions from the US," the expert notes.

Washington has not yet imposed sanctions against Beihai, although Great Britain restricted the terminal's activities in early October, calling it an organization that supports the Russian energy sector. In response, the representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry emphasized that Beijing "consistently opposes unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law.

" Experts warn that this reality calls into question the effectiveness of the oil sanctions against Russia, introduced by the United States last week. According to Ronald Smith, founding partner of Emerging Markets Oil and Gas Consulting Partners, the new restrictions are unlikely to significantly limit Russian supplies to global markets. It will be recalled that earlier the White House explained why the US President suddenly announced sanctions against Russia.