Russia Appears To Be Amassing A Dark Fleet To Ship Liquefied Natural Gas
By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
Russia appears to have 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.
Russia has already amassed a large shadow fleet of oil tankers, and it’s now working on a similar plan for LNG to circumvent current and future sanctions on its LNG, according to data from shipping database providers cited by Bloomberg.
The analysis by Bloomberg has found that little-known shipping firms operating from Dubai’s free trade zone have assumed ownership of at least eight vessels in the past three months, per data from shipping database Equasis. Of these, four ice-class LNG carriers have already received approval from Russia’s authorities to pass through the Arctic route in Russia this summer. Moscow also appears to have issued a record number of permits for this route, the Northern Sea route. Some of the tankers with new ownership don’t have listed insurers—another sign of a vessel now part of a “dark fleet.”.
“There are several indications pointing to efforts by Russia to create a dark fleet for LNG,” Malte Humpert, founder of the Washington D.C.-based think tank Arctic Institute, told Bloomberg.
The transfer of ownership of vessels to little-known entities in little transparent jurisdictions outside Russia bears a striking resemblance to the Russian moves from two years ago when Moscow started amassing the dark fleet for its oil, Bloomberg notes.
Russia has been seeking a larger share of the global LNG market, but U.S. sanctions have delayed the start-up of the Arctic LNG 2 project, while the EU just this week banned new investments, as well as the provision of goods, technology, and services for the completion of LNG projects under construction, such as Arctic LNG 2 and Murmansk LNG.
The EU is also banning transshipment operations of Russian LNG to third countries in EU territory after a transition period of 9 months.
This first EU move against Russia’s LNG could speed up the creation of a shadow Russian LNG fleet.
*********
(TLB) published this article by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
Header featured image (edited) credit: Ship/Image: Sergei Krasnoukhov/ TASS/imago images
Emphasis added by (TLB)
••••
••••
Stay tuned tuned…
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.