>An LNG carrier central to Russia’s sanctioned Arctic gas trade was rocked by an explosion around 4 a.m. on March 3 roughly 150 nautical miles southeast of Malta, in an incident Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack and that could ripple through the Kremlin’s fragile LNG shadow fleet logistics network.
>If the incident is confirmed as a deliberate attack, it could significantly complicate logistics for Novatek. The company has just 11 shadow fleet LNG carriers at its disposal, according to shipping data – already too few to carry the project’s full nameplate capacity. Arctic LNG 2 is currently operating at roughly 30% of that level of 3mtpa, constrained largely by shipping limitations. The loss or long-term sidelining of even one vessel would represent a meaningful blow to the project’s transport capacity.
This part of the story is a bit long, but it seems the ship was normally delivering LNG from the Russian north (STS near Murmansk) to Beihai, China. But travelling via the Mediterranean and the Suez all the way ’round to China. So, it looks like China’s fossil fuel supply is getting ‘double tapped’, not only by the war in the Gulf, but also by Ukraine hitting Russian ships going to China. Crazy times for the oil/gas shipping trade.
I Bet That I’d Look Good on the Sea Floor
– Arctic Metagaz
UnhingedRedditoid on
On the one hand, you love to see it. But on the other hand… Depending on how long the energy shock from Trumps new war drags on, stuff like this can really end up hurting Ukraine if they are percieved to be excacerbating the situation.
Support for Ukraine will not survive another period of significant inflation in Europe, is my hunch. Incumbents will get destroyed across the continent.
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SuS:
>An LNG carrier central to Russia’s sanctioned Arctic gas trade was rocked by an explosion around 4 a.m. on March 3 roughly 150 nautical miles southeast of Malta, in an incident Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack and that could ripple through the Kremlin’s fragile LNG shadow fleet logistics network.
>If the incident is confirmed as a deliberate attack, it could significantly complicate logistics for Novatek. The company has just 11 shadow fleet LNG carriers at its disposal, according to shipping data – already too few to carry the project’s full nameplate capacity. Arctic LNG 2 is currently operating at roughly 30% of that level of 3mtpa, constrained largely by shipping limitations. The loss or long-term sidelining of even one vessel would represent a meaningful blow to the project’s transport capacity.
This part of the story is a bit long, but it seems the ship was normally delivering LNG from the Russian north (STS near Murmansk) to Beihai, China. But travelling via the Mediterranean and the Suez all the way ’round to China. So, it looks like China’s fossil fuel supply is getting ‘double tapped’, not only by the war in the Gulf, but also by Ukraine hitting Russian ships going to China. Crazy times for the oil/gas shipping trade.
Russia claims the vessel was hit by Ukrainian USVs that came from the direction of the Libyan coast. Ukraine has not yet publicly commented on this attack, but [took responsibility](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/19/ukraine-attacks-russian-shadow-tanker-off-libyan-coast) for a previous one in that area. Albeit that one was with aerial drones so did less damage.
I Bet That I’d Look Good on the Sea Floor
– Arctic Metagaz
On the one hand, you love to see it. But on the other hand… Depending on how long the energy shock from Trumps new war drags on, stuff like this can really end up hurting Ukraine if they are percieved to be excacerbating the situation.
Support for Ukraine will not survive another period of significant inflation in Europe, is my hunch. Incumbents will get destroyed across the continent.