The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on two India-based shipping companies, Gotik Energy Shipping Co. and Plio Energy Cargo Shipping OPC Pvt Ltd, for their involvement in exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.
The U.S. State Department announced the sanctions on Thursday, stating that these actions aim to hinder Russia's ability to operate the Arctic LNG 2 project, which is expected to produce a substantial amount of LNG annually.
The State Department specifically highlighted the deceptive shipping practices employed by the LNG carrier ship 'New Energy,' owned by Gotik and managed by Plio Energy. These practices included disabling its automatic identification system to load cargo from the sanctioned project through a ship-to-ship transfer with another blocked vessel.
Additionally, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) updated its list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) to include both companies and the vessels involved, 'New Energy' and 'Mulan.' SDNs are entities owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of, targeted countries, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.
This is not the first instance of Indian companies facing U.S. sanctions for their association with Russia's Arctic LNG project. In August, Ocean Speedstar Solutions OPC Pvt Ltd, also based in India, was sanctioned for similar activities.
The U.S. Treasury Department revealed that Russian companies have been using front companies in third-country jurisdictions to acquire secondhand LNG tankers to overcome a shortage of vessels for the Arctic LNG 2 project.
