The first shipment of liquified natural gas from Russia’s sanction-hit £20bn Yamal project has arrived in the UK.

The Christophe de Margerie tanker docked at the London Thamesport on the Isle of Grain in Kent yesterday evening and offloaded its cargo, a National Grid spokesman confirmed.

Russia's UK embassy tweeted yesterday: "Feeling cold? Help is on the way - first shipment of LNG from Russia arrives in UK today!"

But the shipment, estimated at 170,000 cubic tonnes, will only be temporarily stored in the UK before being sold for use elsewhere. It belongs to Petronas LNG UK, the British arm of Malaysia LNG, Agence France-Presse reported.

Opened by Vladimir Putin earlier this month, the Yamal project is based in Siberia and majority-owned by Novatek, one of Russia’s largest independent natural gas producers, which currently faces sanctions by the United States government over Russia’s involvement in Ukraine.

Other investors include France’s Total and the Chinese state-owned CNPC and Silk Road Fund.

It had been suggested the shipment could be used in the UK following a price spike after a shutdown of the Forties North Sea Pipeline earlier this month.

The Christophe de Margerie is an icebreaker commissioned specifically to service the Yamal project, which is in north Siberian Arctic. It is named after Total's former chief executive, who died in a plane crash in Moscow three years ago.