The LNG tanker terminal Portovoy has left for Murmansk. Gas carriers of the Baltic LNG project are also being sent there. Probably, the vessels will deal not only with the delivery of Gazprom gas, which had problems with sales, but also with another sanctioned project — Arctic LNG —2. He is gaining momentum.
The tanker terminal "Portovoy" left the berth of the LNG plant in In the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region near the border with Finland and headed north. According to AIS of vessels, the gas carrier used for loading other tankers goes to Murmansk and reports that it plans to arrive at the place on August 22. The 277-meter vessel is carrying LNG cargo and passes by the coast of Norway in the North Sea on August 20. This is the first departure of Portovoy from the Baltic LNG plant since the start of work in the autumn of 2022.
The resources tracking the warships reported that the tanker terminal was accompanied by the Admiral Kasatonov frigate during the passage of the Baltic Sea and out of it.
It is significant that the tanker is followed by the gas carrier of the project, Valera, which is returning from a flight to China. Another gas carrier of the project, Perle, is also moving in this direction. The ship is also returning from China, but along the Northern Sea Route. On August 20, Perle was on her way to the Bering Strait.
It is not known what such movements are connected with. It is known that after the imposition of sanctions on the project at the beginning of 2025, it encountered problems in the sale of LNG and, unlike Arctic LNG — 2, apparently, it was not able to establish sales to China. Gas carriers of the Baltic project have been idle off the coast of China for months.
It is possible that the Port terminal tanker will make a voyage along the Northern Sea Route to China or transfer the cargo to Valera or Perle, and after that the vessels will be engaged in providing Arctic LNG -2. Now is the most appropriate time for this, since all vessels themselves are under sanctions, and the navigation season on the Northern Sea Route is in full swing.
The second Arctic LNG project was sanctioned in the fall of 2023, but managed to arrange the delivery of LNG to China and the main problem of the project is the lack of a sufficient number of vessels. Arctic LNG — 2 can already operate in two stages — 13.2 million tons of LNG (18 billion cubic meters of gas) per year, while 12 traditional gas carriers and 2 ice-class tankers are insufficient to ensure the delivery of all produced volumes.
The Portovaya LNG plant itself was not left without a loading system. Instead of the "Port" tanker, the Marshal Vasilevsky tanker-regasification terminal got to the berth on August 11. Sentinel satellite images show that the gas carrier is at the pier on August 20.
The vessel is used to supply the Kaliningrad Region, but previously it was also used to deliver LNG abroad. Therefore, Marshal Vasilevsky can either stay at Portovaya or go back to Kaliningrad with an LNG cargo or go to China, increasing the fleet of ships delivering Russian LNG under sanctions.
As reported by EADaily, the Baltic medium-tonnage LNG complex "Portovaya" with a capacity of 1.5 million tons was launched in September 2022 and at the beginning of the cargo was delivered to Greece and Turkey. In 2024, a significant part of the shipments went to China, but a gas carrier also operated to deliver LNG from Portovaya to Spain and small vessels sailed to the Belgian Zeebrugge. In January 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on the complex and the project shifted to Asia. However, the first two batches were handed over in China only in autumn.
In total, since the introduction of sanctions, the project has exported six batches. Everything else was supplied to Kaliningrad.