It's been a relatively good year so far for Russian LNG, with exports up and recent progress on new capacity additions. But ongoing Western sanctions and the looming ban on Russian LNG into the EU from next year limit Russia's potential for future growth, while a coming wave of global volumes could erode Russia's market share. Russia has exported 19.6 million tons of LNG since the beginning of this year, up 10% versus the first seven months of 2025, according to data from ship tracker Kpler. Some 10.7 million tons of LNG has shipped from Yamal to Europe this year. The continent absorbed 97% of delivered Yamal cargoes in January-June, or 9.9 million tons; by late June, the eastward Northern Sea Route was available for Yamal to send more cargoes to Asia.