A Gas Carrier Faking Its Location Helps Russia Avoid Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- A liquefied natural gas tanker that’s docked at a sanctioned Russian gas facility has no known insurer, is managed by a little known Indian company and is pretending to be somewhere else.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, identified the ship recently docked at the Arctic LNG 2 export plant as the Pioneer vessel, citing deck appearance and dimensions. He also said it was sending signals showing it’s 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away, a move known as spoofing that’s a classic hallmark of the shadow fleet.

The Pioneer is part of a suspected “dark fleet” of LNG vessels being amassed by Moscow to carry gas shipments to willing buyers, which is similar to a group of ships assembled to carry Russian oil. Satellite images taken on Aug. 1 showed an LNG tanker at the Arctic facility, which had been struggling to start exports due to Western restrictions, for the first time. 

Pioneer is currently managed by Ocean Speedstar Solutions, according to Equasis, a global shipping database. The company was incorporated in June and has a registered address about 150 kilometers outside of Mumbai, according to India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Pioneer is owned by Zara Shipholding, which lists the same address as Ocean Speedstar, according to Equasis. 

Until June, the ship was briefly managed by Nur Global Shipping, another little known company that operates out of the Meydan Hotel, in a United Arab Emirates free trade zone that has been criticized by officials for its lack of transparency. The use of unheard-of companies is similar to Moscow’s maneuver to create the shadow fleet of oil tankers.

The Pioneer also has its insurer listed as “unknown” on the International Maritime Organization database — another characteristic of dark-fleet ships.

The US imposed sanctions on the Arctic LNG 2 plant in November to prevent the start of exports. While the facility began production in December, no fuel has so far been shipped as restrictions kept foreign companies away and stopped delivery of specialized, ice-ready carriers.

Ocean Speedstar didn’t respond to a request for comment, and the phone number on its website was unavailable. Novatek PJSC, which leads the Arctic LNG 2 the facility, has not commented on the arrival of a vessel or responded to Bloomberg’s request for comment. The satellite images, taken by the Sentinel 2 satellite, do not confirm LNG is being loaded.

Ship-tracking data for the Pioneer vessel indicate that the ship is in the Barents Sea northeast of Norway, a long way from Arctic LNG 2. Satellite images reviewed by Bloomberg do not show the ship in the location indicated by the tracking system.

Ocean Speedstar took over management of another suspected shadow fleet LNG vessel, the Asya Energy, in June, according to Equasis. Asya Energy was also previously managed by Dubai-based Nur Global Shipping. Ship-tracking data also places the gas carrier in the Barents Sea.

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