Sanctioned tankers jam in freezing sea-ice
The five LNG carriers that were included in the latest round of EU sanctions against Russia are all stalled in remote Arctic waters.
For at least a week, the Christophe de Margerie has been lying idle in the icy waters of the Kara Sea. Judging from ship traffic data, the vessel has been drifting along the eastern shores of archipelago Novaya Zemlya since the 25 December.
The 299 meter long ship was the world’s first LNG carrier with ice-class Arc7 . Since late 2017, it has shuttled between Sabetta, the Russian LNG terminal in the Gulf of Ob, and the world market with liquified natural gas.
It is part of the Yamal LNG project, a grand industrial endeavour much treasured by the Kremlin.
"It will support a stable level on the international energy market and create favorable conditions for world market development, Vladimir Putin underlined when he visited Sabetta in late 2017.
Now, the operations of the Christophe de Margerie appear to have been seriously hampered.
The tanker that is named after the late leader of French oil company Total is one of the 59 ships that were included in the 15th round of EU sanctions against Russia.
The restrictive measures were adopted by the EU Council on the 16 December.
According to the EU Council, the measures are "designed to address the circumvention of EU sanctions through targeting of Putin’s shadow fleet and weaken Russia’s military and industrial complex."
Two weeks after their adoption, the sanctions have clear effects on the transportation of natural gas from the Russian Arctic.
In addition to the Christophe de Margerie, another four LNG carriers now appear stalled in Arctic waters.
While the Christophe de Margerie is waiting for further orders in the Kara Sea, the carriers North Way, North Mountain, North Air and North Sky are lying idle in the Pechora Sea.
The latter are part of a brand new fleet of vessels that has been hired by Novatek and its affiliated companies. They are all built at the Samsung Heavy Industries in 2023 and 2024 and have the same ship specifics.
They are 293 meters long, 46 meters wide and have a deadweight of more than 88 thousand tons, ship traffic data show. They are believed to have high ice-class and be able to shuttle to Russia’s far northern LNG terminals.
The carriers are likely to be the same ships originally contracted by Japanese shipping company NYK Lines together with Russia's Sovcomflot. According to news site Tradewinds, the four vessels have been moved to Dubai-based entity White Fox Ship Management.
