Russia is planning to facilitate ship-to-ship transfers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas condensate in the Barents and Bering Seas. This initiative aims to free up ice-class tankers for Novatek, Russia’s largest LNG producer. Novatek has been moving forward with its Arctic LNG 2 project despite facing restrictions due to Western sanctions, which limit access to necessary tankers for transporting LNG via the Northern Sea Route to Asian markets. Loadings of Russian LNG in EU ports will be prohibited starting March 2025.
To address the shortage of vessels capable of navigating Arctic waters, Russia intends to have existing vessels transfer their cargoes to regular vessels at sea. This strategy will enable the ice-class tankers to be available for new shipments. The first area designated for ship-to-ship transfers will be near Chosha Bay in the Barents Sea for Obsky Ammiak, a Novatek subsidiary. Additionally, Russia plans to establish a second facility with similar capacity in Kresta Bay in the Bering Sea.
These transfers will only take place when ship movement is not impeded by ice. Each facility is expected to facilitate the loadings of 4.1 million cubic meters of LNG and 1.4 million cubic meters of gas condensate annually. Novatek is already utilizing a similar scheme for ship-to-ship LNG transfers off the coast of Russia’s Murmansk region. Novatek has not yet commented on this draft project plan.
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