Russian LNG carrier goes dark in Norway’s Arctic waters to circumvent sanctions

LNG carrier unloading liquefied natural gas in port. (Source: Jens Schott Knudsen under CC BY-NC 2.0)

A game of maritime cat and mouse has been unfolding in Norway’s Arctic waters of the Barents Sea for the last two weeks. A liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier effectively went into hiding on July 23 sending out a false transponder signal and reappeared off Norway’s coast 14 days later on August 7.

For months shipping and energy experts cautioned that Russia may resort to using a “dark fleet,” where vessels turn off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders, to begin carrying LNG from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

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High North News is an independent newspaper published by the High North Center at Nord University in Bodø, Norway.