Another dark fleet ship set to dock at Russian Arctic LNG Plant

A vessel in Russia’s suspected dark fleet is preparing to dock at the nation’s newest liquefied natural gas facility, as Moscow continues to attempt to push forward with exports despite ever-tightening US sanctions.

Everest Energy, which was sanctioned by the US last month, is preparing to reach the Arctic LNG 2 facility, according to ship-tracking data. The tanker would export the plant’s fourth shipment so far. Arctic LNG 2 was sanctioned by the US last year.

The US has taken aim at the facility in an effort to curb the expansion of Russian gas shipments, a key source of revenue for Moscow. The US on Thursday slapped its second set of sanctions against dark fleet LNG vessels in its latest move to block exports and frustrate efforts to find buyers.

Arctic LNG 2 started exports in August via vessels with opaque ownership that were hiding their location, characteristics of a dark fleet that are used to circumvent western restrictions. Everest Energy already picked up a shipment from Arctic LNG 2 last month, and delivered the fuel to a floating storage unit in the Murmansk region.

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will continue expanding its share of the global LNG market. “We will do this despite any difficulties that they are trying to create for us,” he said at the Eastern Economic Forum.