Russian LNG under sanctions went hand in hand: the United States is hitting the gas carriers of the shadow fleet

The tanker with the first liquefied gas from Arctic LNG — 2, which came under direct US sanctions, reloaded the fuel to another gas carrier. Thus, the vessel may try to hide the delivery to the end customer and at the same time try to circumvent its own restrictions. The United States imposed sanctions on seven gas carriers of the shadow fleet. They also include tankers that do not violate any restrictions, but serve the Yamal LNG project.

Pioneer tanker, which carries the first LNG from Arctic LNG —2, reloaded it to the New Energy gas carrier near the Suez Canal in The Mediterranean Sea. gCaptain writes about this, publishing satellite images, presumably, of two vessels during the transfer of cargo from ship to ship.

"Satellite images confirm the meeting of both vessels and show them 20 nautical miles northeast of Port Said. The transfer of LNG from ship to ship, depending on the volume, usually takes 36-48 hours in a calm sea,"the newspaper writes.

The intrigue of the situation is given by the fact that the Pioneer gas carrier is not just transporting sanctioned cargo, but has already managed to find itself on the US SDN list. Since August 23, there have been six more gas carriers there, which in the West are called the shadow fleet for the export of Russian LNG.

The list includes Asya Energy and Everest Energy, which, like Pioneer, are managed by Indian Ocean Speedstar Solutions and took cargo to Arctic LNG—2. In addition to them, the list also includes four White Fox Ship Management gas carriers from the UAE. It is also a little-known new company, but its vessels were serviced until recently only by Yamal LNG, which is not under sanctions. EADaily wrote that North Sky became the first tanker of the shadow fleet, which passed through the Northern Sea Route and is now approaching China.

It is likely that Washington believes that four tankers will still be used on Arctic LNG— 2, since Yamal LNG has long had an established fleet of 26 tankers.

The sanctions included not only gas carriers, but also their operators — Ocean Speedstar Solutions and White Fox Ship Managemen.

Judging by previous sanctions, when restrictions were imposed on operators of new vessels of the South Korean shipyard for Arctic LNG — 2, the United States began to act proactively.

At the same time, New Energy, which could have taken the cargo from Pioneer, and its operator Nur Global Shipping are not included in the US sanctions list. And Western analysts and agencies continue to monitor where the cargoes from Arctic LNG— 2 will go, as their recipients may also be under US sanctions.

The Asya Energy tanker is currently being tracked. The gas carrier took the second cargo from Arctic LNG — 2 and now indicates via AIS that it has returned from the route past Europe near Murmansk, where it can transfer LNG to another tanker.

Arctic LNG —2 will be the second Russian Arctic LNG project — the most powerful, 19.8 million tons per year. In the US, they promised to kill the project.

In December last year, the first stage was launched at Arctic LNG—2, and in August a gravity platform with the second stage was towed to the Gydan Peninsula. Due to the sanctions, the project is experiencing problems with the shipment of LNG. Therefore, the tanker fleet of the sanctions project has to play "cat and mouse" in order to circumvent the restrictions.

The expert community is actively discussing that there will be no third stage in the project. It is already being used at the next Murmansk LNG plant, which, for example, does not require ice-class gas carriers. Conventional LNG tankers are easier to find on the market, while icebreakers are produced due to specifications and prices specifically for specific projects.

As reported by EADaily, Russia plans to increase the export of liquefied natural gas more than three times — up to 100 million tons in 2030. At the same time, in the USA, where the production of liquefied natural gas is going to increase even more, they are not economically interested in competing with LNG from Russia.

Experts do not rule out that over time, when competition in the gas market will intensify, and Yamal LNG may fall under US sanctions. So far, the project is necessary, including for the gas supply of Europe, since Russian liquefied gas provides about 5% of the region's consumption. The European Union has stated that they want to completely abandon Russian gas in 2027.