A trio of Russian shadow LNG carriers apparently remain idle with cargoes on board off the country’s Far East coast.
One of the ships has changed its name to that of a ship scrapped five years ago and two of the others have been reflagged.
The 137,231-cbm Asya Energy (ex-Trader IV, built 2002) has been renamed the East Energy.
The renaming follows that of the 149,700-cbm Nova Energy (ex-New Energy, built 2007) — its second switch since being sold to Russian interests as the Neo Energy.
The two vessels remain idle along with a third, the 138,000-cbm Pioneer (ex-Pioneer Spirit, built 2005).
They arrived in east Asia in October.
All three non-ice class LNG carriers are laden with cargoes from Novatek’s US-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 liquefaction plant in Russia, which began exports this year.
The Nova Energy and East Energy shipped their cargoes through the Northern Sea Route while the Pioneer, which loaded at Arctic LNG 2 on 1 August, was one of the few LNG vessels to take the Suez Canal southbound this year.
The LNG carriers bought for Russia’s shadow fleet have gradually been shifting over to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping as other classification societies withdrew class from them.
The Nova Energy, Pioneer, 79,833-cbm newbuilding Mulan (ex-Mulan Spirit, built 2024) and 138,000-cbm Metagas Everest (ex-Everest Energy, built 2003) — which has also undergone two name changes — are all now listed under the Russian register as from November.
But the flag states of the vessels are less clear.
The Nova Energy and Mulan are listed as Panamanian-flagged ships. However, Equasis’ details for three of the ships — “Sint Maaten”, Palau and Curacao for the East Energy, Pioneer and Metagas Everest respectively — are all accompanied by the word “false”.
All five vessels are listed as under the control of Indian-based ship managers.
A further four Russian shadow LNG carriers are also set to switch flags.
Last month Reuters reported that Panama’s Maritime Authority said it had started a process to cancel flag registrations on the 174,000-cbm sister ships North Air and North Mountain (both built 2023) and newbuildings North Sky (ex-North Star) and North Way (ex-North Wind, both built 2024) due to their links with Russian gas producer Novatek.
Kpler data shows the four “North” ships, along with Mulan, as idling in the Barents Sea.
Metagas Everest is also in the region but is listed as laden with a cargo from Arctic LNG 2 loaded in early October.
All nine vessels have been sanctioned by the US, with the UK also including some under its sanctioned entities.
