Russia is secretly amassing a “dark fleet” of tankers to ship its LNG, mirroring the shadow fleet it created for oil exports to dodge Western sanctions. Bloomberg reveals that obscure shipping firms from Dubai have acquired several LNG vessels, with some already approved to navigate Russia’s Arctic routes. This stealthy maneuver comes as Russia faces increasing sanctions from the U.S. and EU, which have delayed major LNG projects and banned new investments. The creation of this clandestine fleet highlights Moscow’s determination to circumvent sanctions and maintain its grip on the global LNG market.

Russia appears to have begun to collect a dark fleet of tankers to ship its LNG via vessel ownership transfers, similar to the efforts Moscow used following the invasion of Ukraine to construct a shadow fleet to export oil and products in the face of Western sanctions.

Russia has already accumulated a vast shadow fleet of oil tankers, and it is now working on a similar strategy for LNG to avoid existing and potential restrictions on its LNG, according to data from shipping database suppliers reported by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg discovered that little-known shipping corporations operating from Dubai’s free trade zone have acquired at least eight vessels in the last three months, according to data from the maritime database Equasis. Four ice-class LNG tankers have already been approved by Russian officials to transit through the Arctic route this summer. Moscow appears to have awarded a record number of permits for the Northern Sea route. Some tankers under new ownership do not have listed underwriters, indicating that the vessel has joined the “dark fleet.”

“There are several indications pointing to efforts by Russia to create a dark fleet for LNG,” Malte Humpert, founder of the Washington D.C.-based think tank Arctic Institute, told Bloomberg.

The transfer of vessel ownership to little-known firms in little-transparent jurisdictions outside Russia has a striking resemblance to Russian moves from two years ago, when Moscow began building the black fleet for its oil, Bloomberg reports.

Russia has been vying for a larger share of the global LNG market, but US sanctions have slowed the start-up of the Arctic LNG 2 project, while the EU recently prohibited new investments as well as the provision of goods, technology, and services for the completion of LNG projects under construction, such as Arctic LNG 2 and Murmansk LNG.

Following a nine-month transition period, the EU will prohibit Russian LNG transshipment operations to third countries on EU territory. This first EU step against Russian LNG may hasten the formation of a shadow Russian LNG fleet.

Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that China’s Wison New Energies announced a sudden halt to their Russian projects, citing strategic concerns for their company’s future. This decision, made in response to US sanctions on Russia’s LNG industry, includes backing out of constructing crucial modules for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

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