Another ‘dark fleet’ tanker set for sanctioned Russian LNG plant

A third liquefied natural gas tanker appears to be heading to the Arctic LNG 2 export plant in northern Russia that’s subject to US sanctions, with Moscow ramping up efforts to circumvent Western restrictions.

The Everest Energy, part of a suspected “dark fleet” of vessels assembled by Moscow to take gas to willing buyers, has halted in the Barents Sea northeast of Norway, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Two other LNG vessels stopped at the same spot recently. Satellite images later revealed that the ships were actually docking at the Arctic facility, suggesting that they were faking their transponder signals.

The Everest Energy, as well as the two other vessels — Asya Energy and Pioneer — are all managed by Ocean Speedstar Solutions, according to Equasis, a global shipping database. The India-based company was incorporated in June and only manages these three ships, Equasis data shows.

The US imposed sanctions on the Arctic LNG 2 plant late last year to prevent the start of exports. While the restrictions kept foreign companies away and stopped the delivery of ice-ready carriers, Russia likely managed the circumvent the curbs by using the shadow fleet.