Sanctions prevent repair of Russia-owned Arc-7 LNG carrier

Christophe de Margerie, an Arc-7 icebreaking LNG carrier built for Russia’s Yamal LNG project, has been out of commission for around six months.

Affiliated with Sovcomflot (SCF), the state-controlled Russian energy concern, High North News tracked the vessel from China’s Jinhai Ship Industry Shipyard in October, to a position near to the Yamal LNG facility in the Kara Sea a month later. The vessel is denoted as ‘adrift’, neither at anchor, nor under power.

Many of the Arc-7 series of vessels are owned by other companies including Greece’s Dynagas, Canada’s Teekay and Bermuda’s Seapeak Maritime, and have been successfully repaired at Damen Shiprepair Brest or Fayard or Dennark’s Fayard.

But an unwillingness among European yards to service the SCF-owned Christophe de Margerie means that it will likely remain inoperable until sanctions are lifted.

LNG shipping market participants are divided over the fate of six Arc7 LNG carriers currently under construction in South Korea originally meant for the Russian Arctic LNG 2 project operated by Novatek.

Six Arc-7 icebreakers with a capacity of 172,600m³ were commissioned by SCF before the war, and are still under construction at the South Korean shipyard Hanwha Ocean. The fate of the vessels is uncertain, as sanctions forbid the vessel from being delivered to SCF.