An LNG tanker linked to Russia’s Arctic gas trade and sanctioned by the UK has stopped at a port in northern Norway in the first appearance of such a vessel under Western sanctions in these waters.
The Clean Ocean LNG tanker, which the UK sanctioned in October 2025 due to links to sanctioned Russian LNG trade, made a 12-hour stop off the port of Honningsvåg in northern Norway a week ago, ship tracking data reviewed by High North News (HNN) showed on Tuesday.
Russia has been using sanctioned tankers to move its LNG out of Arctic export projects to buyers willing to risk the trade. The U.S., the UK, and the EU have sanctioned these LNG carriers, as well as the Arctic LNG 2 project run by Russian exporter Novatek.
“The Clean Ocean is not just another LNG tanker. It is a UK-sanctioned vessel linked to the transport of Russian fossil fuels,” Sebastian Rötters, sanctions campaigner at German environmental and financial watchdog group Urgewald, told HNN.
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According to the campaigner, “If a ship sanctioned by Britain can still appear to receive logistical support off Norway, then serious questions need to be asked about whether sanctions are being treated with the seriousness they deserve.”
Earlier this year, the EU boosted its imports of Russian LNG from the Yamal LNG project, which is not under sanctions, to a record high in the first four months of 2026, just before the bloc started implementing a phased-out ban on imports of Russia’s LNG.
The EU received as many as 91 cargoes from Yamal between January and April or 98% of all Yamal LNG exports that reached their final destination between January and April, according to analysis of Kpler data published by Urgewald earlier this month.
The EU banned, effective April 25, imports of LNG from Russia under spot contracts as part of its wider stepwise ban on all Russian gas imports by the end of 2027. A full ban will take effect for LNG imports from the beginning of 2027 and for pipeline gas imports from the autumn of 2027, under the EU’s plan to ditch Russian gas.
“The EU’s ban on LNG imports via short term contracts is a step forward, but long term contracts remain the core problem,” Urgewald’s Rötters said in a statement.
“As long as these exist, Europe will continue sending money to a Russian gas project that doesn’t have a lucrative future without the EU.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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