Export is being prepared for Russian LNG: a group of gas carriers was bought from Oman at once

Four additional gas carriers are going to Murmansk at once and will increase the grouping for the export of liquefied gas from Arctic projects.

Four additional LNG tankers, Kosmos, Luch, Orion and Mercury, are heading to Murmansk at once and can join the grouping of ships for the export of Russian LNG. According to AIS ships, gas carriers have bypassed Africa and are traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. One of the vessels, Luch, directly indicates the destination — Murmansk.

According to gCaptain, the age of the vessels is about 20 years and previously they belonged to Asiad Shipping from Oman. According to the publication, gas carriers were sold for $ 110 million and now they belong to Fidelity Denizcilik ve Ticaret and Celtic Maritime & Trading registered in Turkey.

"The acquisition of relatively outdated LNG tankers is in line with the broad Russian strategy seen in 2024, when Novatek and related companies began a series of purchases of used carriers to strengthen export opportunities against the background of sanctions restrictions," gCaptain writes.

Gas carriers are not under sanctions. Therefore, they can serve both Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG-2. The first project is not under restrictions, but the EU is imposing sanctions on Russian LNG and more and more cargo will have to be sent to remote Asia, the way to which out of season navigation along the Northern Sea Route takes at least a month.

As for Arctic LNG — 2, the sanctions project serves two ice-class tankers and up to a dozen conventional gas carriers, and the plant needs to increase its fleet after it has built up cargo delivery to China and can increase production capacity, since two of the three queues (13.2 million tons) have already been commissioned.

Obviously, four vessels will become a replacement, including Arctic Metagaz, which transported cargo from Arctic LNG — 2 to China and was blown up by Ukrainian drones in The Mediterranean Sea. Now the project's gas carriers are taking a longer route — around Africa.