Russia expands shadow fleet despite Western sanctions

According to the agency, four LNG tankers — Kosmos, Luch, Orio, and Merkuriy — recently changed their flag to Russian and are heading toward the Arctic.

According to vessel tracking data, some of them are moving through the North Atlantic, while one is signaling a course to Murmansk, which is located near the Saam floating gas storage facility used for exports from the Arctic LNG 2 project, which is under US sanctions.

According to the Equasis vessel database, the tankers changed registration and flag in March–April after a change of ownership. Previously, they belonged to Oman Ship Management Co. or affiliated structures.

As Bloomberg notes, these vessels have signs of a shadow fleet: they are older than a typical modern LNG tanker fleet and were transferred to little-known companies through opaque ownership schemes and intermediaries.

4 vessels head toward the Arctic region (photo: Bloomberg)

Overall, according to Bloomberg analysis, at least 16 tankers have already been involved in transporting LNG from Russian sanctioned projects. One of the vessels was previously damaged in March and taken out of service.

According to Equasis, in February, the owners of Kosmos and Luch became the Hong Kong company Mighty Ocean Shipping Ltd., while Orion and Merkuriy were transferred to Celtic Maritime & Trading SA.

The shadow fleet of Russia

Russia systematically uses maritime logistics not only for exporting energy resources, but also for exporting stolen Ukrainian resources.

Earlier, at least eight sanctioned oil tankers passed through the English Channel despite the UK government announcing efforts to combat the shadow fleet.

A new package of sanctions against Russia being prepared by the EU should block Russia's shadow fleet, which allows Moscow to receive revenue from oil.

In addition, Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service stated the Kremlin's plans to increase the number of oil tankers sailing under the Russian flag.