(Bloomberg) — A sanctioned liquefied natural gas tanker appeared to transfer its Russian cargo to another vessel in the Mediterranean, a sign of the lengths Moscow is willing to go to to evade U.S. measures.
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The Pioneer, which was sanctioned by the US on Friday, is currently anchored next to another vessel about 30 kilometres northeast of the Egyptian port of Said, satellite images show, suggesting it is conducting a so-called ship-to-ship transfer in open water, which is rare for natural gas. The receiving vessel is the New Energy, which is not subject to any restrictions, according to TankerTrackers.com.
The cargo is the first to be loaded from Arctic LNG 2, Russia’s newest gas export facility, which was sanctioned by the US last year. In response to the US measures, Moscow is building a shadow fleet of LNG tankers, similar to those it has done for transporting crude oil and products.
The US upped the ante last week by imposing restrictions on seven Russia-linked LNG tankers, including the Pioneer and Ocean Speedstar Solutions, the vessel’s India-based manager.
New Energy has been managed by Plio Energy Cargo Shipping since June, according to Equasis, a global shipping database, and was previously suspected of being part of the shadow fleet due to its opaque ownership structure. India-based Plio Energy was incorporated on June 20, according to India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Plio did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Once the transshipment is complete, New Energy could sail through the Suez Canal to Asia, where there may be willing buyers for the Russian gas. It is common practice for ships carrying approved energy to conceal their location by turning off or tampering with their automatic identification systems.
Everest Energy, another vessel sanctioned by the U.S. on Friday, is currently moving away from the Arctic LNG 2 facility in Russia, according to vessel tracking data that suggests the ship has taken on a cargo. The vessel faked its location in the Barents Sea until Monday, the data showed.
(Updated in last paragraph with details of another sanctioned ship.)
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