Russia’s Yamal LNG Acquires New Gas Carrier For Arctic Ship-to-Ship Transfers

Russia’s Yamal LNG plant, led by Novatek, has acquired a new gas carrier, North Moon, for ship-to-ship (STS) operations near the Arctic port of Murmansk, according to ship-tracking data from LSEG on Thursday.

The tanker is currently located near Kildin Island in the Barents Sea. This is where LNG from Yamal LNG is reloaded from ice-class Arc7 tankers.

STS transfers usually involve moving LNG from ice-class tankers to conventional ones, but they can also make cargo tracking more difficult. Yamal LNG resumed STS operations in the Murmansk region in November 2023.

Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine, along with a shortage of gas carriers, have created challenges for Russia’s plans to increase its share of the global LNG market.

The country currently holds about 8% of the market and aims to raise this to 10% by 2030-2035.

The North Moon was built in 2024 and is owned by Singapore-registered Arctic Emerald No.2 LNG Shipping. It is operated by Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).

Russia is the world’s fourth-largest LNG producer after the U.S., Australia, and Qatar.

The country has two major LNG plants: Yamal LNG, led by Novatek, which produced around 20 million tons in 2023 and Sakhalin-2, operated by Gazprom, which produced more than 10 million tons last year.

Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project, which started operations in late 2023, has struggled to sell its cargoes.

A source told Reuters in October 2023 that Novatek had shut down commercial operations at Arctic LNG 2 and had no plans to restart them during the winter.

Reference: Reuters

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