The Russian gas tanker, which came under international sanctions, was spotted near the Suez Canal while overloading the liquefied gas to another tanker that did not come under sanctions. The information was provided by the Reuters, referring to the data of the monitoring services.
The gas tanker, known as Pioneer, was loaded with liquefied natural gas at the new Russian Arctic Plant "Arctic LNG-2", which began its operations in December 2023. After loading the Pioneer tanker, it was spotted during a gas overload on the New Energy tanker floating under the flag of Palau and managed by the company from the UAE and India, to the north of the Suez Canal.
It is noted that the Arctic LNG-2 plant planned to become the largest in Russia for the production of liquefied natural gas, but its export has been seriously difficult because of Western sanctions imposed in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Modern transshipment practices, such as gas overload from icebreaker tankers into conventional gas trucks, not only reduce costs, but also complicate cargo tracking.
Pioneer tanker and other Asya Energy tanker, which also participated in overload, used "fraudulent shipping practices" such as shutdown of an automatic identification system (AIS), which complicates tracking their routes. This indicates that Russia and its partners are trying to circumvent and avoid international control.
Although some countries, including India, continue to buy Russian energy, they often try to hide these operations to avoid diplomatic disputes. The situation with gas overload and manipulation with routes emphasizes long -term problems in international efforts to circumvent sanctions.
The Arctic LNG-2 plant aimed to reach the final production capacity of 19.8 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per year and 1.6 million tons of stable gas condensate per year from three production lines. However, sanctions and counter -sanctions continue to complicate the implementation of these ambitious plans.
