Russia organizes transshipment of LNG in the Barents and Bering seas due to sanctions

Russia plans to start ship-to-ship transshipment of liquefied natural gas and gas condensate in the Barents and Bering Seas.

This decision is due to sanctions that will prohibit Russia from using European LNG terminals for gas transportation from March 2025, Reuters reports.

The new route will allow Russia to continue supplying LNG to its Asian customers via the Arctic. Such a scheme will also help to optimize the use of ice-class tankers, which are in short supply after the introduction of sanctions. Transshipment is organized by the subsidiary company “Obskyi Amiak”, which belongs to the Russian LNG producer Novatek.

According to the plan, cargo turnover in the Barents Sea will reach 5.5 million cubic meters per year, of which 4.1 million cubic meters will be LNG, and 1.4 million cubic meters – gas condensate. A similar project with the same cargo traffic will be organized in the Bering Sea in Chukotka.

USM previously reported that a sanctioned gas carrier was caught transshipping Russian LNG from ship to ship.