Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of LNG carriers is on its way to the Arctic

The North Sky is on its maiden voyage and the destination is a Russian LNG terminal located in the remote and icy Gulf of Ob.

The ship was rolled out from the Samsung Heavy Industries yard in South Korea in April 2024 and appears to be part of the secretive fleet now under establishment by Russia and its partners.

It is 293 meters long, 46 meters wide and has a deadweight of more than 88 thousand tons, ship traffic data show. It is believed to have high ice-class and be able to shuttle to Russia’s far northern LNG terminals.

The carrier is likely to proceed to Utrenneye, the terminal in the Ob Bay built for Novatek’s project Arctic LNG 2. It set out from the Chinese port of Dapeng on the 26th of May and is due to reach its destination on the 21st of July.

The North Sky is part of a fleet of at least four tankers hired by Novatek and its affiliated companies. Three other carriers, the North Mountain, North Air and North Way, are all expected to make port calls in Utrenneye in the course of summer.

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The North Sky and its sister carriers are built by the same yard and have the same ship specifics. They were delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries in 2024 and 2023 respectively and all sail under a Panama flag.

Information from the Russian Northern Sea Route Administration shows that the four vessels have permission for sailing on the remote Arctic route in the period between 1st of July and 7th of September. The permissions include sailing without icebreaker assistance in ice-free and light ice conditions.

Unlike the other ships included in Sea Route registry, the four new tankers are not listed with applicant information.

But it is likely that they are the same ships that originally were contracted by Japanese shipping company NYK Lines together with Sovcomflot. According to news site Tradewinds, the four vessels have been moved to Dubai-based entity White Fox Ship Management.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions have haunted Novatek’s Arctic LNG projects.

In November 2023, the U.S treasury imposed sanctions on the Arctic LNG 2. Before that, the Saam, a 400 meter long vessel projected to serve as transshipment hub for the project, was also sanctioned. In early May 2024, the US Treasury took aim also at several heavy lift carriers of paramount importance for Novatek’s delivery of project components.

In June 2024, the additional restrictive measures were taken against more than 100 entities in fields like Russian defense, manufacturing, technology, transportation, and financial services.

Among the new projects affected by the U.S sanctions were the Obsky LNG, Arctic LNG 1 and Arctic LNG 3.

According to the U.S Treasury, the aim is to «limit Russia’s future energy revenues and impede Russia’s development of future energy projects […]»