Four Singapore-based LNG shipping firms have been sanctioned by the United States for their links to Russian gas producer Novatek.
Singapore-based firms LNG Alpha Shipping, LNG Beta Shipping, LNG Delta Shipping and LNG Gamma Shipping are all majority-owned by New Transhipment FZE, a Novatek subsidiary based in the United Arab Emirates, according to the US State Department.
The four are the registered owners of LNG carriers North Air, North Mountain, North Way and North Sky respectively – vessels that had previously been identified as being part of Russia’s dark fleet.
Talk of Russia potentially amassing a shadow fleet of LNG carriers started earlier this year when industry experts warned Moscow could implement a similar scenario to what it did with oil and product tankers to circumvent sanctions.
In an attempt to circumvent sanctions on Russia’s revitalised Arctic LNG 2 project, “Russian companies have engaged in efforts to procure secondhand LNG tankers, predominantly through front companies in third country jurisdictions, to make up for a critical shortage of available tankers for the Arctic LNG 2 project,” the State Department said in a statement.
Energy News Beat