Russia to transship LNG at sea to circumvent sanctions - Reuters
Illustrative photo: Russia will transfer LNG from ship to ship at sea to allow tankers to circumvent sanctions (Getty Images)
Russia is organizing ship-to-ship transfers of LNG in the Barents and Bering Seas to circumvent sanctions, according to Reuters.
Russia plans to arrange the transshipment of liquefied natural gas and gas condensate from ship to ship in the Barents and Bering Seas. This will free up more ice-class tankers for its largest LNG producer, Novatek.
Reuters reports that this initiative aims to address the shortage of ships capable of navigating Arctic waters. Specifically, the first transshipment site will be established near Chosha Bay in the Barents Sea for Obsky Ammiak, a subsidiary of Novatek. A second facility with similar capacity will be built later in Kresta Bay in the Bering Sea.
It is noted that transshipment will occur "when ship movement is not hindered by ice". This will allow for the loading of 4.1 million cubic meters of LNG and 1.4 million cubic meters of gas condensate per year at each facility.
Earlier, it was reported that a few months after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia had created a shadow fleet to transport its oil worldwide. Increasing evidence now suggests that Moscow has begun to do the same with liquefied natural gas.
In particular, India has announced plans to continue purchasing oil from Russian companies that are allowed to conduct such sales due to low prices.
