Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM is using a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for ship-to-ship loadings (STS) of liquefied natural gas from its Portovaya LNG plant to improve logistics as another tanker is under repair, LSEG data showed.

The FSRU Marshal Vasilevskiy was used to supply the Kaliningrad region of Russia and ensure its gas security in case of disruption to pipeline supplies from neighbouring countries.
The first STS loadings of LNG from the Marshal Vasilevskiy took place in early February, after which the FSRU went back to the Portovaya LNG plant and returned again to the Kaliningrad region.

According to LSEG data, last week the FSRU Marshal Vasilevskiy loaded LNG ship-to-ship near Kaliningrad onto the Cool Rover vessel, managed by Greece’s Thenamaris LNG.

Gazprom and Portovaya LNG did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

One industry source told Reuters that the Marshal Vasilevskiy is an Arc 4 ice-class LNG tanker and the Cool Rover does not have its capabilities.

Therefore the STS loading may have been done for security reasons during winter months.

One of the vessels that previously carried LNG from Portovaya – ice-class tanker Velikiy Novgorod – had been under repair in the port of Shanghai since January. It left the Shanghai shipyard on March 5 and now is heading west without a specific destination, according to LSEG data.

Cool Rover is now heading towards the Suez Canal.

Russia, which is relying on the LNG exports, may face a shortage of ice-class tankers due to sanctions, analysts said.

Source: Reuters reported by Reuters and edited by Sharon Singleton