A sanctioned LNG tanker appears to be headed for the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia, vessel-tracking data on Bloomberg showed on Thursday, in what could be another attempt by Russia to load LNG and try to find buyers.
The LNG tanker Iris, which is blacklisted by the U.S., was headed on Thursday to the Arctic LNG 2 facility. The tanker flashed destination at Sabetta, the terminal at the Yamal LNG, which is not under sanctions. But the vessel passed Sabetta earlier on Thursday without stopping and appears to be now headed to the site of Arctic LNG 2, according to Bloomberg’s ship-tracking data.
It isn’t clear if the LNG vessel will dock at Arctic LNG 2 or load any LNG. Yet, speculation has it that the first tanker movement in the area in months could suggest that Russia may attempt again to revive exports from the facility.
The U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia’s Arctic LNG 2, which was billed as Russia’s flagship LNG project, have effectively frozen the start-up of the export facility in the Gydan Peninsula.
The project has come under intensifying sanctions from the United States, which have put off any buyers that were previously considering buying cargoes from Arctic LNG 2.
In one piece of anecdotal evidence, a sanctioned LNG carrier, which had loaded liquefied natural gas in the Artic in August, traveled for four months around north Europe, the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, the Indian Ocean, along China’s east coast and north to Russia’s Far East, without finding a buyer for the cargo.
Last summer, Russia started shipping LNG from its flagship Arctic LNG 2 project—but not to customers. The shipments were made from the Arctic project to floating storage units either in Russia or in European waters, as potential customers are unwilling to buy LNG from the facility.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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