'Russian LNG' Cargo Docks in Boston, US
French LNG carrier Gaselys, carrying what is widely understood to be Russian LNG, docked at Everett (Boston, USA) on January 28.
The shipment is believed to be both the first Yamal LNG cargo landed in the US, and possibly the first Russian gas delivered to the US northeast where prices surged early this month on bitterly cold weather.
Tanker tracking services, plus news providers including Russia Today (RT), show the tanker docked Sunday at Everett, Massachusetts.
It's fact that Gaselys loaded LNG from storage at the Isle of Grain LNG terminal in England January 7. That cargo in turn is widely reported to be the same cargo that was unloaded December 28 from the Christophe de Margerie, the first ice-breaker LNG tanker to have loaded a cargo at Yamal LNG; sources at the Grain LNG terminal told NGW that the Yamal cargo was never regasified into the UK gas system.
Gaselys changed course mid-Atlantic just over a week ago, with tanker tracking services it had switched course back towards southwest Spain. Engie then unusually issued a statement January 20 saying that its ship would proceed to Everett. Despite waiting offshore Boston for days, that's where it eventually docked January 28. Engie was responding to speculation that the cargo would not be allowed into the US.
Novatek, operator of the Yamal LNG venture, is affected by US sanctions. France’s Engie though is not, and the cargo was delivered on a French-registered LNG carrier that picked up from a UK terminal. At time of press, Engie had yet to comment on the Gaselys' arrival and whether or not the cargo is being unloaded into storage and regasified into the US gas system. (Engie told NGW 12.30pm: "Gaselys is still at the dock in Everett.")
Engie has not publicly commented on the ultimate origin of the LNG aboard Gaselys. Novatek told NGW last week: "Since the cargo was unloaded in Isle of Grain, it is no longer a cargo of Yamal LNG."
Moreover Engie did not buy from Novatek, because the first cargo exported by Yamal LNG was sold to Petronas, which at/near Isle of Grain transferred cargo ownership to Engie.
Bloomberg and RT now report that a second Russian cargo, on another French LNG carrier Provalys, is due to arrive Everett mid-February.