Bypassing US sanctions: a large vessel docked at Arctic LNG-2 — Bloomberg

Last week, a large vessel docked at the Russian plant of PJSC Novatek for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) Arctic LNG-2, which apparently is the first step to circumvent US sanctions against the facility. It is reported by Bloomberg with reference to satellite images.

"PJSC Novatek, which heads the facility, has not commented on the arrival of the vessel, and the images taken by the Sentinel 2 satellite do not confirm the loading of LNG. Nevertheless, it is an approximately 280-meter vessel moored at the Arctic LNG-2 facility on about August 1, which almost exactly corresponds to the length of a typical LNG vessel," the article says.

The satellite image also shows flames at a nearby facility.

"There is no doubt that this is an LNG tanker. A large flash indicates a restart of the facility," said Mehdi Tuil, a leading LNG specialist at Calypso Commodities.

The vessel seen in the satellite images is not counted in the tracking data collected by Bloomberg, which is a common feature of "shadow fleet" vessels that often turn off transponders to avoid tracking.

It is noted that the United States imposed sanctions in November to prevent the start of exports from Arctic LNG-2. Despite the fact that the company started production in December, LNG was not shipped, as restrictions scared off foreign companies and stopped the supply of specialized ice-class tankers. According to satellite data, abnormally warm summer weather cleared ice from the waters near Arctic LNG-2, which would facilitate the movement of traditional LNG vessels.