Russian gas shipment tests resilience of new U.S. sanctions
A gas carrier filled with Russian gas has arrived off the coast of Spain. Whether, and to whom, LNG—burdened by the latest American sanctions—can be sold will be a test of their effectiveness.
At the end of last month, the bulk carrier Cool Rover, which is currently docked near Spain and Portugal, departed from the Russian liquefied natural gas production plant, Portovaya LNG. According to data collected by Bloomberg, this ship, owned by Gazprom PJSC, was still making deliveries to Europe last year.
Cool Rover is poised to be the first gas carrier to test the willingness of buyers to bypass the latest sanctions imposed last Friday by the U.S. government against Russian LNG facilities.
Russian facilities under pressure
The Portovaya plant in the northwestern part of Russia has been placed on Washington's sanctions list, which includes Russian hydrocarbons. It is the first LNG export facility subjected to sanctions aimed at weakening Moscow's financial capabilities in light of the war in Ukraine. These measures are intended to discourage buyers from importing gas from Russia.
Although the effects of sanctions are not usually immediate, the imposition of restrictions on Arctic LNG 2 in 2023 prompted buyers to act cautiously for fear of financial consequences not aligned with Washington's policies, Bloomberg notes.
Last year, Portovaya and Vysotsk LNG, led by Novatek PJSC, exported about 2.5 million tonnes of LNG, accounting for approximately 0.6 percent of the world's export in 2024.
Sanctions are a significant element of the international strategy aimed at stopping the financing of Russia's war in Ukraine by reducing revenues from hydrocarbon trade.
