Expert media found a gas carrier moored at the Arctic LNG-2 berth. By all indications, the tanker belongs to the shadow fleet, which Russia is creating in response to sanctions against the Novatek plant.
A tanker was spotted at the berth of the Arctic LNG-2 natural gas liquefaction plant. Satellite images taken on 1 August show a 280-metre-long vessel. The tanker is the same size as ships carrying LNG.
In addition, gas combustion began at the installation of the first stage of the Arctic LNG-2 project. There has been no activity here in the previous months.
Rumours about a new project of oil and gas companies have been circulating for quite some time. The gas companies had plans to create an independent fleet by analogy with oil "grey" and "black" tankers. However, the colour of the new Russian fleet seems closer to black.
"The LNG tanker, which is moored to a Russian gas facility under sanctions, does not have a well-known insurer, is operated by a little-known Indian company and pretends to be located somewhere else," writes the portal gCaptain.
The gas carrier was identified by the owner of the company TankerTrackers.com. We are talking about the well-known LNGC Pioneer gas carrier, which was built in 2005.
The transponder on the tanker gives deliberately incorrect information about its location. On the day of loading, coordinates were transmitted from the ship, 800 nautical miles or 1,300 km away from the Gulf of Ob, where Arctic LNG-2 is located.
"A well-known technique for falsifying real coordinates, which is a classic distinguishing feature of the shadow fleet," the foreign publication quotes the telegram channel Oil and Gas World.
The tanker last signalled from the Spanish port of Algeciras, where one of the largest European LNG terminals is located. LNGC Pioneer is now back at sea.
Another distinctive feature of the shadow fleet is the ownership of the vessel. LNGC Pioneer goes under the flag of Palau and belongs to an unknown Indian company.
There are other ships carrying LNG not far from Russian waters in the Arctic. LNG Dubhe and SCF La Perouse were spotted. La Perouse is a new tanker built in 2020.
It can be used to transfer LNG from tanker to tanker, following the example of the oil shadow fleet. The presence of newly built vessels may indicate that Novatek is trying to avoid the "problem of the Danish Straits" and not give the Danish authorities a reason to stop the ship because it poses an environmental danger to the Baltic.
Novatek has another problem that Russian oil companies do not have. Oil from the Russian Federation is not sanctioned. It can be sold. There is a ceiling of $60 per barrel, but it is difficult to track what cargo is on the tanker, since tanker owners have learned to circumvent the restrictions. For example, oil is often unloaded from several tankers onto one, and then it is difficult to understand what its origin is.
On the contrary, Arctic LNG-2 is a project under American sanctions, and it doesn't matter how much the LNG produced there costs. The entire cargo from the first to the last dollar is sanctioned. Anyone who transports, transloads and buys LNG risks being targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the spring, a surge in production at Arctic LNG-2 was observed only in April; then volumes decreased sharply. The plant actually stood still. If shipments are regular, volumes should start to grow. If production does not reach at least 30% of the planned capacity, then supplies from it will not make economic sense. In terms of tankers, we will observe LNG shipments at least twice a month.
Novatek decided to mix LNG without leaving too far. The Yamal LNG plant is located 70 km from the Arctic LNG-2, and shipping gas there and then to Arctic LNG-2 is not a big problem:
"The growth of figures at Yamal project may indicate hidden shipments from Arctic LNG-2. But the increase at Yamal is still not very large, given that last year there were repairs at Yamal LNG in the summer, and this year they are not needed — that's the difference. Let's see what happens next", — suggested analyst Alexander Sobko.
All indirect signs indicate that Novatek is building its shadow fleet according to black schemes. It is going to sell sanctioned LNG and transport it on tankers without insurance and transponders, transshipping LNG at sea. The involvement of Yamal LNG's clean products inevitably brings sanctions for this project closer, but Novatek's owners and the state represented by Gazprom are apparently ready to take such risks.
So far, Novatek's main market is Europe. On the old continent, they have been preparing for life without Russian LNG for a long time. So far, the United States has begun to supply more to Asia, but as soon as prices rise here, the American authorities will recall the sanctions against Novatek, and their suppliers will squeeze out Russian gas in this segment as well.
Novatek's previously published report on net losses of 139 billion rubles for the first half of 2024 suggests that there is no extra money in the company. Investments in Arctic LNG-2 sent an independent gas producer along the path of Gazprom, which is predicted to have major losses this year.
Recently, the Arctic Century wrote that Finnish Gasum has stopped purchasing LNG from the Russian Federation. More information about this is written here.
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