Russia's Yamal LNG deploys tanker Axios II for transhipments, data shows

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co

11/12/2024 09:29

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russia's Novatek-owned
 NVTK.MM  Yamal LNG plant has deployed the LNG tanker Axios II
for ship-to-ship operations in the Barents Sea, LSEG data shows.
    The Axios II, which sails under the Marshall Islands flag,
was built by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries  329180.KS 
and delivered earlier this year to Greek firm Capital Clean
Energy Carriers  N1M.MU . 
    According to LSEG ship-tracking data, it is moored near the
island of Kildin in Russia's Murmansk Oblast together with the
Nikolay Urvantsev Arc7 ice-class tanker.
    Ship-to-ship transfers usually involve moving LNG from
ice-class tankers on to conventional ones, but can also be used
to complicate cargo tracking.
    Yamal LNG is currently using the LNG tankers Gui Ying and
Wen Cheng for exports via ship-to-ship transfers off Murmansk,
ship-tracking data shows.
    While some countries, including China and India, continue to
buy Russian energy despite Western sanctions, they are sometimes
wary of advertising the fact to try to avoid diplomatic
tensions.
    A European Union ban on the transhipment operations for
Russian LNG cargoes in European ports comes into force at the
end of March 2025.
    Russia is the world's fourth largest LNG producer behind the
U.S., Australia and Qatar.

 (Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin,
editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)
 ((vladimir.soldatkin@thomsonreuters.com; twitter:
@vsoldatkin;))