US Sanctions Update – Russian LNG Shadow Fleet
On 23 August 2024, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced sanctions against seven LNG carriers reportedly comprising a new Russian shadow fleet, designating them as US specially designated nationals (“SDNs”).[1] According to satellite imagery and ship tracking data, at least three of these ships are confirmed to have loaded LNG at Novatek’s sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 facility. The other four ships have been used to deliver volumes from non-sanctioned Yamal LNG, but were originally intended for use with Arctic LNG 2.
US persons (including US banks that process USD transactions) are generally prohibited from dealing with SDNs, and OFAC also has broad powers to designate non-US persons who deal with SDNs as part of so-called secondary sanctions.
This latest round of sanctions reflects OFAC’s recognition of the risk that there may be ways to conceal the origin of LNG and thus circumvent sanctions against Arctic LNG 2. The use of a ‘shadow fleet’, first adopted by the Russian oil trade in response to US sanctions, is one means of doing so. Ships in a shadow fleet switch off their transponders to mask their location and are owned by entities set up in countries with low exposure to the US financial system. The designation of the shadow fleet now makes the origin of cargoes irrelevant – any operation with the sanctioned ships may in itself be a breach of the US sanctions. That said, the US has issued general licences for some of these vessels allowing a limited number of operations, such as safe docking and anchorage at port.
Given the sanctions risk for non-US persons in the LNG sector who deal with Arctic LNG 2 or the new shadow fleet is limited (though there is always the risk of secondary sanctions), the greatest appetite for these cargoes will come from buyers in countries not reliant on or connected to the US financial system. However, as was the case with Russian oil, these buyers will likely expect discounted pricing. For example, some Indian buyers, seemingly undeterred by both sanctions and reputational risks, are reportedly keen to pay for the commodity in a non-USD currency, such as dirhams through Dubai-based entities. Conversely, it is reported that Chinese buyers, although interested in buying discounted LNG, are facing problems with their banks who refuse to finance the transactions for fear of US secondary sanctions.
This buying activity poses a thorny issue for OFAC and the broader US policy of seeking to curtail Russian energy exports. While OFAC can presumably be expected to take a more bullish enforcement stance against Chinese buyers and their banks (hence, their reticence to risk secondary sanctions), ties between the US and India have strengthened in recent years. There is, therefore, a genuine question as to whether OFAC would rely on its secondary sanctions authority to designate Indian entities as SDNs for buying cargoes from Arctic LNG 2.
In the most recent development, on 5 September 2024, OFAC designated as SDNs two Indian entities connected to the Russian shadow fleet in what could be viewed as a warning shot to Indian buyers and others.[2] Both entities, Gotik Shipping Co and Plio Energy Cargo Shipping OPC Private Limited, are linked to the LNG carrier New Energy[3], which received a cargo via ship-to-ship transfer from the Pioneer, one of the ships OFAC sanctioned in August. It remains to be seen whether OFAC would take a similarly aggressive approach to Indian buyers.
It is also worth noting that the US and the EU, in its first sanctions package against Russian LNG (about which we wrote here), have sanctioned two floating storage units linked to Novatek’s Arctic projects: the Koryak FSU and Saam FSU. Several ships in the shadow fleet, originally bound for other undisclosed locations after loading cargoes at Arctic LNG 2, have now been observed alongside the Saam FSU.
[1] See OFAC’s announcement here. The sanctioned vessels are Asya Energy, Everest Energy, North Air, North Mountain, North Sky, North Way and Pioneer.
[2] See OFAC’s announcement here.
[3] The New Energy and the Mulan, another LNG carrier linked to Plio Energy Cargo Shipping, were also designated as SDNs.
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