US Slaps Sanctions on Vessels Linked to Russia's Arctic LNG 2

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on two companies and two vessels linked to Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, Washington's latest step to add costs on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

The Arctic 2 project, 60% owned by Russia's Novatek had been due to become Russia's largest liquefied natural gas plant with eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons per year of LNG from three trains.

Novatek may be forced to scale back the project following a a raft of U.S. sanctions including ones imposed in August.

The U.S. Treasury said it had imposed sanctions on Gotik Energy Shipping Co and Plio Energy Cargo Shipping. Treasury said Gotik is the registered owner and Plio Energy is the commercial manager of the liquefied natural gas carrier New Energy.

The U.S. State Department said New Energy used deceptive shipping practices, including shutting off its automatic identification system, to load cargo from the U.S.-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project. That was done via a ship-to-ship transfer on Aug. 25, 2024, with Pioneer, a vessel blocked by the United States earlier in August.

The ship-to-ship transfer suggests Moscow has managed to continue some exports from the project.

The U.S. Treasury added New Energy and an additional vessel managed and operated by Plio, called Energy Mulan, to its designated list, which means their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with them.

"The U.S. government will continue to answer attempts to operationalize the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project or otherwise expand Russia's energy capabilities with a swift response," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Reuters could not immediately find contacts for Plio and Gotik.

(Reuters - Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Costas Pitas and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and David Gregorio)