Russia has nearly doubled its fleet of tankers transporting liquefied natural gas from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in less than a year, as Moscow seeks to expand lucrative fuel exports despite Western restrictions.
Ukrinform reports, citing Bloomberg, that at least 20 tankers are now serving the Arctic LNG 2 complex and related infrastructure, based on an analysis of vessel-tracking data. Most have opaque ownership structures typical of the so-called shadow fleet.
In late December, there were only 11 such vessels, according to Bloomberg.
The agency also reported that the latest addition to the fleet transporting LNG from the sanctioned Arctic project is a modern Russian-built ice-class tanker, the second of its kind designed for year-round operations in icy waters. Vessel-tracking data showed that it was loading gas at Arctic LNG 2 over the weekend.
Seeking new markets for gas that was previously shipped to Europe by pipeline, Russia has placed a major bet on LNG exports. US and European sanctions on Arctic LNG 2, Russia’s flagship LNG export project, forced Moscow to postpone plans to triple LNG production by 2030. At the same time, Russia is rapidly expanding its shadow fleet to continue shipping gas eastward.
