Russian gas carriers "dance" in the Baltic Sea: export LNG will be given to Kaliningrad

Russian LNG tankers are maneuvering between the islands right on the border with Finland. Obviously, the sanctioned gas carriers are overloading liquefied gas or are planning to do so. The absence of foreign buyers makes it necessary to send LNG from sanctioned Russian projects to Kaliningrad.

LNG tankers Marshal Vasilevsky and Valera (formerly Veliky Novgorod) are performing maneuvers right on the border with the territorial waters of Finland. According to AIS vessels, gas carriers arrange unusual passages near the islands of Bolshoy Pogranichny and Maly Pogranichny, which are located just a few kilometers from Finland.

It is not known what the maneuvers are related to. Gazprom does not comment on the operation of LNG tankers. At the same time, it is obvious that we are talking about redirecting export LNG. In January, the United States announced a new package of sanctions against Russia and the Baltic Portovaya and Cryogaz Vysotsk projects fell under them. Also, all vessels controlled by Russian companies that worked with Portovaya were under restrictions. These are Marshal Vasilevsky, Valera (formerly Veliky Novgorod) and Pearl (formerly Pskov).

The first of the gas carriers is designed to provide gas to the Kaliningrad region and acts both as a tanker and a storage and regasification terminal. Valera was engaged in the delivery of Baltic LNG to Europe and Asia. The last time the gas carrier was loaded with LNG at Portovaya was in mid-January and has been anchored in the Baltic Sea since then. There is also a Pearl loaded with export liquefied gas.

The vessels spent three to three and a half months in the Baltic Sea, but apparently Gazprom has not found any buyers for LNG from the sanctioned project and vessel.

The fact that in April, according to ENTSOG, gas transit through Lithuania to the exclave stopped for three weeks — from April 2 to April 22 - speaks in favor of gas transshipment to Marshal Vasilevsky for delivery to the Kaliningrad region. Obviously, at this time the gas carrier supplied the stored volumes to the system of the region. After that, he went to Valera for a new cargo, which has been storing a batch of LNG for three and a half months.

The Baltic medium-tonnage LNG complex "Portovaya" with a capacity of 1.5 million tons was launched in September 2022 and at the beginning the cargoes were delivered to Greece and Turkey. Last year, a significant part of the parties went to China and there was a direction to Spain. The tanker Cool Rover delivered cargo there, which remained in the Spanish port after the January delivery.

The Portovaya complex itself has practically stopped shipments since mid-January. In February, he downloaded Pearl, and made the last download at the end of March — the party was accepted by Marshal Vasilevsky. It was obviously used in Kaliningrad during the April disconnection from Lithuanian transit. The dropped volumes can be up to 100 million cubic meters, which is equivalent to the volume of the batch that the Marshal Vasilevsky gas carrier can carry.

Sanctions against gas carriers and the Portovaya and Cryogaz Vysotsk projects have become an unpleasant surprise for Gazprom and Novatek, but will not seriously affect the overall export of Russian LNG. The total design capacity of the two sanctioned complexes is 2.2 million tons (3 billion cubic meters). This is about 6-7% of Russian LNG exports.

In 2024, the export of liquefied gas from Russia has reached a record, RBC reported with reference to Kpler data. Deliveries increased to 33.6 million tons. The main export projects are Yamal LNG and Sakhalin—2. Portovaya and Cryogaz Vysotsk accounted for 2.3 million tons in 2024.