Dubai Firm Takes Over Russian Lng Fleet To Avoid Sanctions -

Dubai Firm Takes Over Russian Lng Fleet To Avoid Sanctions

A mysterious Dubai company takes control of Russian LNG ships in an apparent bid to circumvent sanctions

A Dubai startup has taken over three liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers in what appears to be Russia’s latest move to circumvent Western sanctions.

According to global shipping database Equasis, in September, management of the previously Russian-operated ships, the Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, and La Perouse, was transferred to a company called Matias Ship Management. Dubai-based shell companies are often used to take over tankers, hiding their ultimate ownership and management from Western authorities.

Russia uses a network of front companies stretching from Dubai to China to ship gas from the LNG-2 facility in the Arctic, which the United States imposed sanctions on last year. The murky ownership structure is typical of ghost fleet ships.

Matias Ship Management’s registered office is a shared space in the Meydan Hotel, co-located with Noor International Shipping, another Dubai-based company suspected of helping Russia collect ships from the ghost fleet. The hotel, located in a free trade zone, has previously been criticized by the United States and some local officials for its lack of transparency.

Matias Ship Management does not have a website, registered email, or phone number. Calls to the business center at the Meydan Hotel went unanswered.

According to Equasis, the Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, and La Perouse were previously managed by Gazprom or the Russian satellite news agency. Two ships are now owned by a company with the same address as Mathias Ship Management, which a UAE corporate database shows was established in August.

The Pskov is owned by a company called Nephrite Shipping Inc., according to Ecoseas. Its address — 103 Deep Screen Place, Seychelles — is often used by shell companies, Global Witness revealed in a 2012 report.

The three ships serve the smaller Portovaya LNG export plant on Russia’s Baltic coast, which is not subject to Western restrictions. However, Britain imposed sanctions on Veliky Novgorod earlier this week and La Perouse last month.