(Bloomberg) -- Sovcomflot PJSC is the owner of three liquefied natural gas tankers transferred to a newly established Dubai-based company last month, the state-controlled Russian shipping giant said, adding that the vessels are therefore not part of the shadow fleet.
The ships, Velikiy Novgorod, Pskov and La Perouse, had aspects of their management shifted to a company called Matias Ship Management in September, according to Equasis, a shipping database.
Matias, established only a month earlier, is registered at a shared office space in the Meydan Hotel. That’s the same location used by at least one other Dubai-based firm, Nur Global Shipping, which is suspected of helping Russia assemble a dark fleet of vessels to carry its gas.
Sovcomflot, once one of the world’s leading tanker operators, said in a statement that Matias was rendering technical management services, a “common industry practice utilized by all shipowners.”
The Russian company declined to comment on whether it owns Matias, but said that it operates in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
The US imposed sanctions on Sovcomflot in February, prompting the firm to say publicly that the restrictions have put pressure on its operations. The UK sanctioned Velikiy Novgorod last week and La Perouse last month.
The company said its vessels were blacklisted for being owned by Sovcomflot, not for circumventing restrictions.
All three vessels have been serving the Portovaya LNG export plant on Russia’s Baltic coast, which hasn’t been hit by Western sanctions.
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