(Bloomberg) -- The crayon marks on the wall of the sparsely furnished apartment hint at it being a conventional family home. But the single sofa, pink...
-- The crayon marks on the wall of the sparsely furnished apartment hint at it being a conventional family home. But the single sofa, pink plastic chair and child's bike obscure something else: a vital component in Russia n efforts to circumvent US energy sanctions. And it’s sitting 90 miles southeast of the Indian city of Mumbai.Pipe Fire Near Houston Forces Residents to Evacuate
Bloomberg’s analysis of company data, satellite images and ship-tracking information shows the lengths to which Moscow appears to be willing to go to capture market share. In the short term it could provide some wartime profit, but the government’s ultimate goal is to triple LNG exports by 2030 as one of the pillars of any post-conflict economy — especially after losing Europe as its top pipeline gas customer.
After Western engineers pulled out in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, Novatek PJSC — the private company that owns 60% of the venture that manages Arctic LNG 2 — had to complete the build while navigating its way round trade restrictions. Mothballing was not an option. Executives from Novatek were in Mumbai in February meeting with shipping companies, the people said. Novatek has also opened an office in China to find new customers, according to the people. Novatek and Leonid Mikhelson, its chief executive officer, have been navigating US sanctions for roughly a decade after the company was hit with restrictions in 2014 in response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
The address used by Nur is the Meydan Hotel located in a Dubai free trade zone that has previously been criticized by US and some local officials for its lack of transparency. Nur didn’t respond to a request for comment, and there wasn’t a representative at its address — a shared workspace in the hotel — when Bloomberg visited.
The interest of LNG traders was piqued when the Pioneer was moving off the northern coast of Norway in the middle of July. The ship, sold to Nur around April, was performing near perfect ovals in the Barents Sea, maintaining virtually the same speed and direction on every corner, according to ship tracking data.
The opaque nature of this network makes it virtually impossible to trace the vessels back to their ultimate owners. Plio Energy, like Ocean Speedstar incorporated in June, is also registered to a modest apartment far from Mumbai’s bustling business center. The Plio owner, Karishma Amit Pawar, declined to comment when approached by Bloomberg outside the address.
“Taking such an old, ill-suited vessel though the Northern Sea Route suggests Arctic LNG 2 is running out of options,” says Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at energy consultant ICIS. “It appears these are desperate times for Arctic LNG 2 and so they are resorting to desperate measures.”
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