EU lifts sanctions on Audax and Pugnax vessels participating in Russia’s Yamal LNG project
3.11.2025 - 12:02
The European Union has removed from the sanctions list two ice-class vessels, Audax and Pugnax, built for the Russian Arctic project Yamal-LNG.
The lifting of sanctions may be due to the sale of the vessels to a new owner, which has not yet been officially confirmed, writes the CTS.
It is known that the vessels Audax and Pugnax transported most of the prefabricated modules for another project in Russia – Arctic LNG-2.
In January 2017, the vessel Audax delivered three modules weighing 6 thousand tons each from Qingdao (China) to the Yamal Peninsula (Russia). In the following years, the vessel made several more voyages. Audax and Pugnax continued to transport heavy modules to the shipyard near Murmansk, the last transportation was carried out in January 2024.
Since the imposition of sanctions, both vessels have been idle. They are currently docked in Singapore.
At the time of the sanctions, these vessels belonged to Red Box Energy Services Pte. Ltd., which was also subject to sanctions. The company’s management assured officials in Europe that it only transports steel structures and has no contractual relations with the Russian Federation or Novatek.
It should be noted that the Audax and Pugnax vessels continue to be subject to sanctions by the United States, Canada, and Switzerland.
As a reminder, in July of this year, the EU lifted sanctions on Japanese tankers Mitsui after they promised not to transport Russian gas. In particular, the company assured that the vessels would no longer work on the Yamal and Arctic 2 projects.
