MOSCOW, October 22. / TASS /. LNG Shipping L.L.C. — a joint venture between Teekay LNG and China LNG Shipping — notified Yamal LNG that the US Treasury had lifted the company’s restrictions on LNG transportation for the project, Russian independent gas producer Novatek, the owner of the Yamal LNG project, reported on Tuesday.
"The Yamal LNG Project has received a notification from LNG Shipping LLC (TC LNG), the owner and operator of Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers, that it is no longer a Blocked Person in accordance with the rules for managing foreign control assets of the United States Department of the Treasury (OFAC)," the report said.
TC LNG owns Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers. At the moment, they continue to transport LNG as usual, Novatek added.
In late September, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against six Chinese companies, including tanker operators Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co. Ltd. and Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management Co. for breaching the ban on carriage of Iranian oil.
As a result, 12 LNG carriers were virtually put out of operation. Six of them are ice-class tankers owned by Cosco and Teekay LNG joint ventures with a total capacity of 1 mln cubic meters, serving the Russian Yamal LNG project. Another six sanctioned LNG tankers are vessels chartered by Chinese oil and gas corporation CNOOC.
Yamal LNG project (50.1% owned by Novatek, 20% — France’s Total, 20% — China’s CNPC, 9.9% — Silk Road Fund) is being implemented on the resource base of the Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye field in Russia’s Arctic region.