Sanctioned Russian LNG Shipment Travels Around World, Finds No Buyers 

The shadow fleet of liquefied natural gas carriers transporting blacklisted Russian LNG has encountered a major setback, with at least one ship’s cargo traveling around the world, finding no buyers as the cargo was deemed too risky. 

Bloomberg reports that an LNG carrier called “Pioneer,” carrying a sanctioned shipment of Russian LNG, circumnavigated the world for four months, failing to find a buyer willing to breach US restrictions.

“This vessel (called Pioneer) was spotted on satellite images picking up the first shipment from the Arctic LNG 2 facility in early August — despite camouflaging the move with misleading location information — but then spent well over four months hunting for a customer,” Bloomberg’s Stephen Stapczynski wrote on X. 

This vessel (called Pioneer) was spotted on satellite images picking up the first shipment from the Arctic LNG 2 facility in early August — despite camouflaging the move with misleading location information — but then spent well over four months hunting for a customer pic.twitter.com/qIGcK4v1yr

— Stephen Stapczynski (@SStapczynski) December 26, 2024

According to ship-tracking data, Pioneer arrived at the Koryak floating storage unit in Kamchatka on Thursday after four months on the seas.

“The gas is likely to be held there until a customer can be found,” Bloomberg noted.

Most of Russia’s dark fleet consists of oil tankers. However, the West has increasingly targeted LNG carriers as Washington and Brussels race to sever Russian energy flows to Europe. 

Regarding global LNG trading – buyers, sellers, charterers, financing banks, and insurers must be extra vigilant when running compliance checks to ensure their ships do not engage in Western-sanctioned activities, and this is likely why Pioneer could not find a buyer.