Fayard A/S, a major Danish shipyard based at Odense Port, is the last EU shipyard still servicing the specialized Arc7 LNG tankers that keep Russia’s Arctic gas exports moving.

These vessels are central to the Yamal LNG project, one of Vladimir Putin’s flagship Arctic energy projects. Arc7 LNG tankers are not ordinary gas carriers: they combine large-scale LNG transport capacity with icebreaker-like performance, making them irreplaceable yet highly dependent on specialist maintenance.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, each of these vessels has helped move an average of 5.3 million metric tons of Russian LNG, worth an estimated €4 billion.

If Fayard accepts these vessels before incoming EU restrictions fully take effect, Denmark could give Russia’s Arctic LNG fleet one final European repair window.

Ending Fayard’s role as a maintenance option would matter greatly: there appears to be no clear alternative offering the same level of technical expertise and access to Western spare parts.

Fayard should refuse all repair and maintenance work on vessels serving Yamal LNG and publicly confirm that no such vessels will be accepted in 2026.

Urgewald Briefing Fayard Arc7 Fleet

Source: Urgewald