The Arctic vessel Express docked at a US‑sanctioned floating storage unit in
Russia’s Murmansk region and loaded gas from the Arctic LNG 2 project — the
first time the ship has carried gas from a blacklisted source. Arctic Express
entered service in 2007 and was reflagged to Russia in May. Tracking‑data
analysis shows at least 21 vessels have been used to transport LNG from
sanctioned Russian projects, indicating Moscow is enlarging its fleet to evade
Western restrictions. The biggest remaining barrier to Arctic LNG 2 exports is a
shortage of ships able to deliver cargoes to buyers.
