A sanctioned tanker carrying LNG from a U.S.-sanctioned export project in Russia appears to have undertaken a rare – and risky – ship-to-ship transfer of the LNG cargo off Malaysia, according to satellite images analyzed by Bloomberg News.
The Perle tanker, sanctioned by the United States, is tracked to have loaded LNG from the Portovaya LNG small-scale export plant on the Baltic Sea, Gazprom’s only LNG export facility.
Portovaya LNG and its Russia-based operator, Gazprom SPG Portovaya Limited Liability Company, were sanctioned by the United States in January 2025 in one of the last actions of the Biden Administration in a barrage of sanctions to “degrade Russia’s energy sector.”
The Perle is believed to have loaded LNG from Portovaya in February and has stayed idle or moved around Asia in search of buyers since then, per Bloomberg’s analysis of satellite image data.
Now the Perle appears to be anchored parallel to another vessel 55 miles east of the Malaysian peninsula, the Bloomberg analysis showed. The positioning of the two tankers suggests this is typical of an STS transfer of cargo at sea.
If this is a case of an STS transfer, it would be the first documented instance of Russian LNG cargo transferred offshore Malaysia.
Russia has been stepping up efforts to sell its sanctioned LNG supply in Asia in recent months.
Clear evidence of these efforts is the rising exports from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project to China in defiance of U.S., UK, and EU sanctions on the project and tankers serving its exports.
China is estimated to have received at least ten LNG cargoes from Arctic LNG 2 as Beijing and Moscow appear bolder in defying U.S. and other Western sanctions on Russia’s energy exports.
After struggling for more than a year to find buyers, Novatek’s project roared back to life in August, in a sign that Russia is done waiting and is now sending off loaded LNG cargoes, which could be testing the Trump Administration’s willingness to sanction Russia’s LNG customers in China.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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