Russia’s Yamal LNG Deploys New Tanker for Barents Sea Transshipments

Yamal LNG, the plant of Russian LNG developer and exporter Novatek, has begun using the Axios II tanker for ship-to-ship transfers in the Barents Sea, Reuters reports, citing vessel-tracking data from LSEG. Transshipments are used to free ice-class tankers by unloading LNG to conventional LNG vessels. But these STS operations are also often used to attempt to make cargo and vessel tracking more difficult. The Axios II is now moored near the island of Kildin in the area of Russia's Murmansk, together with the Arc7 ice-class tanker Nikolay Urvantsev,…