Britain has added 27 ships to its Russia sanctions list, including four Russia-flagged LNG carriers acquired to serve Arctic LNG 2 — Orion, Kosmos, Merkuriy and Luch — as part of a 70-target package, according to GOV.UK.
The 16 June package covers 27 specified ships, 32 entities and 11 individuals. The LNG vessels are the strongest shipping angle in the package because London said the move made the UK the first G7 country to sanction several LNG vessels acquired for Arctic LNG 2.
The UK list identifies the four LNG carriers as Orion (IMO 9294264), Merkuriy (IMO 9326689), Kosmos (IMO 9300817) and Luch (IMO 9317315). The sanctions notice links each ship to the carriage of liquefied natural gas originating in Russia from Russia to a third country.
The measures impose UK shipping and trade restrictions on the vessels, including bans on chartering or operating them, UK port entry and the provision or procurement of technical, crew, operating, chartering, brokering, financial and other services connected with the ships.
Celtic Maritime & Trading SA is listed as the current owner-operator of Orion. The ship is listed with Russia as its believed flag, tonnage of 118,608 and year built as 2005. Abakan LLC is listed as current owner-operator of Merkuriy, Kosmos and Luch. Merkuriy and Kosmos are each listed as LNG tankers of 96,671 in tonnage and 285 metres in length, built in 2006 and 2005, respectively. Luch is listed as an LNG tanker of 118,608 in tonnage, built in 2006. All three are shown with Russia as the believed flag.
The UK puts Arctic LNG 2’s LNG exports in 2025 at 1.3m tons, against capacity of more than 13.5m tons per year.
Arctic LNG 2 is an LNG project based on the Utrenneye field on the Gydan Peninsula in the Russian Arctic. Its planned configuration comprises three liquefaction trains of 6.6m tons per annum each, for total LNG capacity of 19.8m tons per year, plus gas condensate output. Novatek holds 60% of Arctic LNG 2. Other project participants are Total with 10%, CNPC with 10%, CNOOC with 10% and Japan Arctic LNG, a Mitsui & Co and JOGMEC consortium, with 10%.