Tanker Spoofing Its Location Seen Taking Sanctioned LNG to China
A tanker carrying US-sanctioned Russian liquefied natural gas and masking its location was spotted near China, according to SynMax, suggesting Beijing is stepping up its efforts to buy the fuel.
CCH Gas, a vessel with a registered owner in Hong Kong, was detected southeast of the island of Hainan in southern China on Monday, the satellite-analytics company said. The ship has been signaling that it is near the eastern coast of Malaysia since late-October, apparently ‘spoofing’ its location, a common dark-fleet tactic to avoid detection.
Satellite Images Confirm Ship’s Location
Satellite images taken by Copernicus Sentinel-2 on Sunday also show the ship going to southern China, according to Bloomberg analysis. CCH Gas is heading toward the Beihai import terminal in the Guangxi region, which Beijing has designated as the sole entry point for sanctioned Russian gas.
Connection to Sanctioned Fuel
In mid-October, satellite images showed CCH Gas alongside a tanker that ship-tracking data indicated was the Perle, which was carrying LNG from Russia’s Portovaya plant, which was blacklisted by Washington in January. The positioning was typical of a ship-to-ship transfer, and suggests CCH Gas was in the process of receiving sanctioned fuel.
China’s Growing Demand for Sanctioned Fuel
China has made greater efforts to purchase blacklisted Russian gas, even as Western nations try to make it tougher to do so. Another US-sanctioned plant, Arctic LNG 2, started delivering blacklisted fuel to China in late August.
Bloomberg News couldn’t find contact information for the registered shipowners and management companies for CCH Gas and Perle.
Original Article: Tanker Spoofing Its Location Seen Taking Sanctioned LNG to — Energyconnects