Speaking at a Financial Times summit on April 7, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt said that the US has a goal of stopping the development of the Russian energy sector, specifically the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia’s northern Yamal Region, which is under development by private energy giant Novatek. 

“Our goal is to ensure that Arctic LNG 2 is dead in the water,” Pyatt was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

“We’re very focused on ensuring that Russia is not able to develop new projects in order to [redirect] the gas that it had previously sent into Europe,” he added.

Read more: US unveils fresh sanctions against Russia

A reiterated US goal against Russia

Due to sanctions, the US has implemented restrictive measures against various entities, including Russian natural gas producer Novatek, two transshipment barges handling liquefied natural gas (LNG) situated near Murmansk and Kamchatka, and the Arctic LNG 2 project.

These sanctions extend to several partners associated with these entities, both within Russia and internationally, including partnerships located in countries like the UAE.

During a congressional testimony in November 2023, Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt outlined the United States' approach to "systematically reduce Russia's future energy revenue."
 
"Just last week, for instance, we leveled new sanctions against a project in the Arctic, Arctic LNG 2, which is Novatek's flagship LNG project, which Novatek set in motion with the aspiration of developing Russia as the largest LNG exporter in the world," explained Pyatt in front of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Our objective is to kill that project. And we are doing that through our sanctions working with our partners in the G7 and beyond," he added.