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Yamal LNG, the plant of Russian LNG developer and exporter Novatek, has begun using the Axios II tanker for ship-to-ship transfers in the Barents Sea, Reuters reports, citing vessel-tracking data from LSEG.
Transshipments are used to free ice-class tankers by unloading LNG to conventional LNG vessels. But these STS operations are also often used to attempt to make cargo and vessel tracking more difficult.
The Axios II is now moored near the island of Kildin in the area of Russia’s Murmansk, together with the Arc7 ice-class tanker Nikolay Urvantsev, according to the LSEG data Reuters quotes.
Russia continues to export LNG from Yamal, while Western sanctions on another LNG project, Arctic LNG 2, have been ramped up in recent months. The U.S. has stepped up efforts to curb Russia’s LNG exports as part of its broader strategy to cut off funds supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Located in the Gydan Peninsula in the Arctic, the Arctic LNG 2 project was considered key to Russia’s efforts to boost its global LNG market share from 8% to 20% by 2030-2035. Arctic LNG 2 has been basically on ice since the U.S. imposed in November 2023 sanctions on the Russian project. As a result, foreign shareholders suspended participation in Arctic LNG 2, effectively withdrawing from the financing of the project and for offtake contracts for the new plant.
In October, Reuters reported exclusively that Russia was planning to carry out STS transfers in the Barents and Bering Seas with the goal of freeing up additional ice-class LNG tankers for Novatek and the Arctic LNG 2 project.
Arctic LNG 2 has already seen months of delays after the U.S. sanctions upended the company’s plans for production start-up and export timelines.
Russia, however, has started to amass a dark fleet of tankers to ship its LNG in vessel ownership transfers similar to the moves that Moscow began after the invasion of Ukraine to create a shadow fleet to export oil and products in the face of Western sanctions.
