The liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels due to load at two newly sanctioned Russian export terminals are set to deliver their cargoes mostly to Europe and also to Asia, shiptracking data showed on Tuesday.
The U.S. on Friday imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues in efforts to give Kyiv and Donald Trump’s incoming team leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine.
On sanctions related to the LNG sector, Washington designated the Portovaya and Vysotsk LNG terminals and its operators, Gazprom SPG Portovaya and Cryogas Vysotsk respectively. The sanctions will take effect from Feb. 27.
LSEG data shows the Velikiy Novgorod vessel loading at Portovaya and is set to depart on Wednesday. Kpler lists the vessel’s destination as Asia. Velikiy Novgorod had brought two shipments from Portovaya to Rudong in Jiangsu province, China last year, according to both Kpler and LSEG data.
The previous loading at Portovaya was by the Cool Rover vessel at the end of December. It is currently discharging at Huelva, Spain, according to LSEG data. Cool Rover had brought several LNG shipments from Portovaya to Europe last year, including to Italy and Spain.
At the Vysotsk LNG terminal, the last vessel to load there was the Coral Evolution, which departed between Jan. 10-11, showed LSEG and Kpler data. It is due to arrive at Zeebrugge, Belgium on Jan. 15.
Coral Evolution is also scheduled to load twice more at Vysotsk before sanctions kick in, according to Kpler data. Its listed load dates are Jan. 25 and Feb. 12 for delivery to Zeebrugge.
Three other vessels are also set to load at Vysotsk. Coral Nordic and Coral Fungia will load on Jan. 16, while Cool Rover will load on Jan. 27 and discharge at Cartagena, Spain, according to Kpler data.
As the Portovaya and Vysotsk plants only account for roughly 2.3 million tons per year of capacity, the impact of the sanctions are not majorly significant for Europe’s gas supply, said a research report from Rabobank.
“Spain, Belgium and Turkey have imported some volumes from these terminals and the U.S. could easily supply Europe with some of these lost volumes if required,” it said.
Additionally, the U.S. sanctions on Friday which targeted 69 vessels owned by Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot also included four LNG tankers: Christophe De Margerie, Pskov, Velikiy Novgorod and Vostochny Prospect.
Zhoushan Wison Offshore and Marine Co and HongKong Yaqing Shipping Co were also designated for supplying power generation modules to the already sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia.
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Michael Perry)