Russian President Vladimir Putin observes Novatek’s LNG equipment manufacturing facility in Murmansk
Moving Russian LNG into the shadows
Russia may be looking to create a dark fleet of LNG carriers to get around sanctions on Arctic LNG 2, but it will be hard to replicate its success with shadow oil tankers
Russia has defied Western sanctions on its oil exports in no small part thanks to the amassing of a large so-called ‘dark’ fleet of crude tankers. These vessels have opaque ownership, frequently switch from flag to flag of convenience and change their names, while hiding their movements and making ship-to-ship transfers on the open sea. These deceptive practices help mask the true origin of the oil and petroleum products, their destination and how they are transported, in order to circumvent sanctions. And this has largely been a success. Russia continues to sell its oil and petroleum products above price caps set by the EU and the US, and these exports are still sometimes finding their way,
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