Nikolay-Urvantsev

On Feb 19, Russia has for the first time conducted three simultaneous LNG ship-to-ship (STS) transfers in the Murmansk region, underscoring how Moscow is refining complex maritime logistics to keep Arctic gas flowing even as Western sanctions target its energy exports. Two of the transfers took place at the Saam floating storage unit (FSU), where LNG from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project was offloaded and reloaded for onward shipment simultaneously, while a third transfer took place near Kildin Island involving cargo from the unsanctioned Yamal LNG project. At the Saam FSU, Arc7, the 'Christophe de Margerie' delivered a cargo originating from Arctic LNG 2, with the tanker 'Arctic Metagaz' loading the LNG for onward transport, likely to the Beihai LNG terminal, which has so far been the only confirmed destination for cargoes from the sanctioned project. A similar double transfer had taken place at the same FSU in early January. Separately, the Arc7 carrier 'Nikolay Urvantsev', transporting LNG from Yamal LNG conducted an STS transfer at the Kildin anchorage east of Murmansk, with the cargo likely bound either for Europe or Asia aboard the conventional tanker LNG Phecda. The triple STS operation signals a new level of coordination for Russian Arctic LNG logistics, showing how the country continued to find ways to move gas to global markets despite mounting restrictions. Sanctions have complicated Arctic LNG 2 shipments, forcing reliance on storage units, STS transfers and a shadow fleet of tankers. In 2024, vessels linked to the project often sailed with AIS tracking turned off or spoofed. More recently, however, transfers have taken place openly, suggesting confidence in established routes and limited new enforcement actions. The Beihai terminal has only been sanctioned by the United Kingdom. The lack of new actions from the USA in recent months has allowed Moscow to develop its Arctic LNG 2 export routes.

As the summer maintenance season has started, the first Arc7 ice-class gas carriers in service of the Yamal LNG project have arrived at the Fayard A/S shipyard in Odense. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev', chartered to Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, arrived at the drydock on June 26, 2025, and sailed around a week later. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Fedor Litke (IMO: 9768370)', operated by Dynagas, arrived at the Fayard A/S yard on July 17, following a delivery at Dunkerque, and remained in drydock as of July 24. Repairs and maintenance schedules have been significantly condensed for the Arctic LNG carriers due to their harsh operating conditions along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The Damen ship repair focuses on hull maintenance, which the LNG carriers regularly require breaking a path through thick Arctic sea ice. The Damen Shiprepair stated that the company was in compliance with all international sanctions legislation against Russia. As the vessels have not been directly sanctioned by the U.S. or the EU the yards’ activities do not violate international law. Though procuring spare parts has become increasingly difficult, suppliers of gas chromatographs and flow meters used on LNG carriers have placed restrictions on the end user and no longer deliver parts to the vessels of the Yamal fleet, related to the fear of sanctions. A number of sanctioned LNG carriers, including an Arc7 and several Arc4 ice-class vessels, have recently resorted to receiving maintenance at Chinese yards. The Arc7 LNG carrier 'Christophe de Margerie' spent months at a Zhoushan Island yard east of Shanghai in summer 2024. Currently two additional sanctioned Russian gas carriers, the 'Sputnik Energy' (IMO: 9256602) and the 'Nova Energy' (IMO: 9324277), remained at Zhoushan yards.

Just days after the EU banned the transshipment of Russian LNG, Russia deployed four LNG tankers, the 'Nikolay Urvantsev' and the 'Vladimir Rusanov' (IMO: 9750701), both controlled by the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, which rendezvoused with the 'Lena River' (IMO: 9629598) and 'Clean Vision' (IMO: 9655456) for an unusual double ship-to-ship transfer at the Kildin anchorage near Murmansk. The vessels were carrying supercooled gas from the Yamal LNG project operated by Russian company Novatek. The four vesselswere pairing up just south of Kildin island between March 28 and March 31, 2025. An STS transfer routinely takes around 36-48 hours. The 'Lena River' had departed from China at the end of 2024. The vessel subsequently idled for weeks in the North, Celtic and Barents Seas. The 'Clean Vision' had left from Mirs Bay near Shenzhen on Feb 21. The 'Nikolay Urvantsev' and 'Vladimir Rusanov' both had sailed from the Yamal LNG plant around a week ago.

Japanese logistics major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced that a naming ceremony for an ice-breaking LNG carrier, jointly ordered by MOL and China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited (China COSCO Shipping), was held at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME). The newbuilding has been named Nikolay Urvantsev, in honor of the famous Russian Arctic explorer and geologist. A crowd of VIPs, including personnel from PAO Novatek, the main shareholder of the Yamal LNG project participated in the ceremony. A press release from MOL said that the "Nikolay Urvantsev" is the sister vessel of the "Vladimir Rusanov" and "Vladimir Vize", which started transport service in 2018 under a long-term charter contract to transport LNG for the YAMAL LNG Project.