Two liquefied natural gas tankers carrying cargoes from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project are sailing east towards Asia after picking up fuel from the sanctioned project in the past week, according to ship tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.
The Christophe De Margerie and Voskhod LNG tankers are travelling north of Russia towards Asia via the Northern Sea Route. They had previously berthed at Arctic LNG 2 on September 23 and 26 respectively, according to the data.
Both tankers had been empty when they arrived at the sanctioned project, and Christophe De Margerie departed loaded on September 25 while Voskhod was also loaded when it departed on September 27, according to Kpler data.
This comes after Arctic LNG 2 loaded six other cargoes earlier this year, and at least seven last year. So far, six LNG cargoes from the project have been delivered to China’s Beihai terminal.
According to shipping database Equasis, the ship or commercial manager for Christophe De Margerie is listed as Gas Carriers SCF Management with an address in Dubai. Its registered owner is Zelitiko Shipping, with the same address as Gas Carriers SCF Management.
Meanwhile, Voskhod’s ship or commercial manager is Igarka OOO with an address in Moscow, and its registered owner is listed as LNG Beta Shipping with the same address as Igarka.
Reuters could not find contact information for Gas Carriers SCF Management, Zelitiko Shipping, Igarka and LNG Beta Shipping.
The Arctic LNG 2 project is 60%-owned by Russia’s Novatek and is subject to Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. It had been set to become one of the country’s largest LNG plants with an eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons per year.
(Reporting by Emily Chow Editing by Mark Potter)