Sanctioned Russian gas carriers suspended by Palau ship registry

The Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) has suspended the registrations of three tankers that were recently sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury for allegedly transporting liquefied gas cargo in support of Russia.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned seven gas tankers late last week. Of these seven ships, Asya Energy, Everest Energy, and Pioneer were registered to Palau.

US State Department officials had earlier stated that Russian companies, often through front organisations overseas, have been procuring secondhand LNG carriers to compensate for a lack of vessels serving the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia's Far North, thus constituting a "shadow fleet" similar to those ships carrying illicit crude oil cargo on behalf of Moscow.

The LNG facility itself has also been sanctioned by the US and other Western countries.

The three ships suspended by the PISR have been linked to Ocean Speedstar Solutions, a sanctioned India-based company.

The series of sanctions targeting Russia's LNG projects were first announced in June. Officials in Moscow have criticised the sanctions, claiming these to be "illegal" and in favour of Western LNG exporters.