Chinese companies have shown an interest in joining a huge £9.1billion Russian project off the coast of a NATO country. The Ust-Luga liquified natural gas (LNG) scheme is a large-scale export terminal being built in the Gulf of Finland.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told the Interfax news service that the international parties will work together. He said on Thursday: "Chinese companies are interested, the issues were raised today. But specifics usually come during the negotiations. Now it is being discussed that this direction is interesting, we will work." In 2022, Russian news service TASS reported that the country was "interested in the participation of Chinese partners in the project for construction of gas chemical and gas processing complexes".

A representative of Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov said following a meeting of the Sino-Russian intergovernmental commission on investment cooperation at the time: "The Russian side expressed interest in the participation of their Chinese partners in major projects for the construction of the Amur gas chemical complex in the region of the city of Svobodny in the Far Eastern District and for the construction of gas chemical and gas processing complexes in the Ust-Luga area in the Leningrad Region."

The Governor of Russia’s Sakhalin region Valery Limarenko, highlighted that the area "plays a special role in the expansion of bilateral ties due to its geographical position".

The Interfax news service reported in February 2024 that the plant should start up in 2027.

It is thought that the complex will process 45billion cubic metres of gas annually and about 13million tonnes of LNG will be produced.

This is on top of up to 3.8million tonnes of ethane fraction, 2.4million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) and 0.2million tonnes of pentane-hexane fraction.

It comes as Russia and China have held discussions over a new pipeline between the two countries through Mongolia.

The Kremlin is aiming to ensure China becomes its principal purchaser of gas after the EU outlined its REPowerEU plan to achieve energy independence from Moscow following Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Officials are aiming for a phased exit from Russian oil, gas and nuclear imports, and want to cut Russian gas imports by 33% by the end of 2025.

This is with a view to stopping them completely by the end of 2027.