Bloomberg: Russia has replenished its shadow fleet with the tanker Arctic Express

The Russian shadow fleet has been replenished with another tanker, the Arctic Express, to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG), bringing the fleet to at least 21 vessels.

This is evidenced by a Bloomberg analysis.

The tanker is docked at the sanctioned floating storage facility Saam in the Murmansk region of the Russian Federation. Saam receives LNG from another sanctioned project “Arctic LNG 2”. Both facilities are under US sanctions (one of them is also under Swiss restrictions).

The “Arctic Express” vessel changed its flag to Russian in May — the tanker, built in 2007, was previously operated by a Greek company.

The vessel is now owned by St. Petersburg-based “Smp Techmanagement” LLC, which also owns three other vessels in the Russian shadow fleet.

What is known about the Russian shadow fleet?

In early December 2022, the G7 members, as well as Australia and the EU, imposed price caps on Russian oil, setting a maximum price of $60 per barrel. From February 5, 2023, these countries imposed price caps on Russian petroleum products: $100 for diesel and $45 for various lubricants.

To circumvent oil sanctions, Russia has begun building a shadow fleet. This is a fleet of old tankers that turn off their beacons so that they cannot be seen by surveillance systems. These tankers are mostly operated by the Russian state-owned company “Suchkomflot”.

According to The Guardian’s September 2023 estimates, Russia’s shadow fleet consists of approximately 600 vessels (they transport mainly crude oil, petroleum products and LNG), which provide 70% of Russia’s oil exports and approximately 10% of the world’s “wet cargo” fleet. With its help, the Russian Federation transports almost 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, which brings large profits to the Kremlin.

In May of this year, four more tankers, formerly owned by Oman, joined the Russian shadow fleet. They also transport LNG.

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