Three Russian LNG tankers are being repaired in Europe and China at a time when Russia faces a shortage of gas carriers due to Western sanctions, according to LSEG data.

The LNG tanker Vladimir Voronin has been in a port near the Danish city of Odense since July 10 and the Nikolay Urvantsev has been in dry dock in Brest, France, since July 22.

Both tankers are involved in transporting LNG from the Novatek NVTK.MM project in Yamal.

The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the Marshal Vasilevskiy, owned by Gazprom GAZP.MM, has been in China for repairs since July 5. Gazprom has used the tanker in the past to transport liquefied natural gas from its Portovaya LNG plant in the Baltic Sea.

Novatek is using a new tanker to export gas from the Yamal LNG project – North Sky left the port of Sabetta in a westerly direction on July 20.

Gazprom and Novatek did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Earlier, the Kommersant newspaper reported that Novatek has expanded its Yamal LNG fleet with four conventional tankers – North Air, North Mountain, North Sky, and North Way, which began sailing in April-May. The tankers were ordered in 2021.

Source: Reuters, reporting by Reuters and edited by Elaine Hardcastle