Sanctioned nuclear icebreakers help deliver Russian gas to Shell, investigation reveals

An investigation has revealed the critical role nuclear icebreakers play in enabling cargoes of liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Russian Arctic to reach Shell and other European companies. The icebreakers are operated by a Russian company called Atomflot that is subject to sanctions in the UK and EU following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The painstaking investigation by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s journalism unit, and published in the i newspaper, involved tracking shipments of LNG from Sabetta on Russia’s northern coast to ports all over Europe. Icebreakers can be clearly seen accompanying some of these tankers during the winter months when part of the route is obstructed by sea ice. There is no suggestion that Shell made direct payments to Atomflot, which would be a clear breach of sanctions.

Supplies of piped Russian gas to Europe have dwindled since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the trade in LNG has soared to record highs. Unearthed looked at deliveries from a major gas facility in Siberia owned by Yamal LNG. Yamal holds contracts to supply millions of tonnes of LNG to some of Europe’s largest energy companies including Shell, TotalEnergies and Naturgy.

On five separate occasions, Unearthed was able to track shipments of 70,000 tonnes of gas that were escorted by Atomflot-linked icebreakers through the frozen Gulf of Ob, to the port of Montoir in France. From here, ship tracking data show that the tankers appear to offload their cargo of LNG to Shell tankers before being shipped on to customers in Asia and the Middle East.

In a further 23 cases, Atomflot’s icebreakers escorted deliveries of LNG through the Gulf of Ob to ports across Europe, including Zeebrugge (Belgium), Dunkerque and Montoir (France), Huelva, Mugardos and Bilbao (Spain), and Rotterdam (the Netherlands). According to information held by the trade intelligence company Kpler these shipments were destined for a range of European customers, including the French oil giant TotalEnergies and Spanish gas company Naturgy, both of which hold contracts for millions of tonnes of gas a year from the Russian Arctic.

Although the investigation did not suggest any direct payments between European energy companies and Atomflot, lawyers contacted by Unearthed suggested it is possible the arrangement breaches sanctions against Russia. In both UK and EU law, sanctions may be broken if a ‘sanctioned entity’ (Atomflot) receives funds indirectly and where the buyer ‘know[s] or should reasonably suspect that there was a sanctioned entity involved’.

Commenting on the findings, Elena Polisano, head of Greenpeace’s Stop Drilling Start Paying campaign, said:

“The list of things oil giants like Shell won’t do for a little boost to their bottom line is very short indeed. While many world leaders are putting pressure on Putin to end this horrific war, Shell seems to have  no qualms about buying Russian gas shipped through the Arctic with the help of sanction-hit icebreakers. 

“They seem to care as little about indirectly helping Putin’s war machine as they do about fuelling more hurricanes, floods and wildfires around the world. If there has been a breach of sanctions, our elected leaders must put their foot down and force oil giants to play by the rules.”

In response to the findings, a spokesperson from Shell said: “We comply with all applicable sanctions and regulations.” It did not respond directly to questions about whether the company was previously aware of the role of Atomflot-linked icebreakers, or whether this role is ongoing. 

The Spanish energy giant Naturgy released a statement in response saying: “Naturgy has no contractual relationship whatsoever with third parties that are subject to sanctions from the EU.”

TotalEnergies has not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

Fergus Randolph KC of Brick Court Chambers, a lawyer specialising in sanctions,  thought that Shell could have breached the sanctions if the gas supplier “contracted with Atomflot to provide the icebreaking service as part of the contract of delivery”. He continued: “If that was the contractual situation, then it could be argued that Shell knew, or had reason to believe that the icebreaking services were part of the overall charter package.”

Ends

Read the full Unearthed investigation here

Read today’s report in the i newspaper here

Download a marine tracking video and image, taken from MarineTraffic, showing a shipment of liquified natural gas leaving Sabetta in Russia accompanied by the nuclear icebreaker 50 LET POBEDY here

Methodology

Unearthed used contract data from Bloomberg NEF to identify European companies that hold large contracts for supply from Yamal LNG. It then looked at data on shipments from Yamal LNG’s port of Sabetta compiled by trade intelligence company Kpler to identify cargoes destined for Europe. 

Using MarineTraffic, a database that tracks the movement of ships using AIS, Unearthed identified instances where LNG shipments destined for Europe were assisted by Atomflot-operated icebreakers between December 2023 and May 2024, the period in which the icebreakers were most active. 

In the case of the cargoes that Kpler specified had been bought by Shell, Unearthed corroborated this by using MarineTraffic to monitor the cargoes being transshipped at Montoir, onto vessels that open-source reporting showed were contracted or owned by Shell. In a further case, Unearthed also found a bill of lading on export data platform Panjiva showing that Shell had bought the shipment.

Where there is no transshipment, it is harder to say conclusively who the end buyer was. Kpler attributes all cargoes to Spain as being bought by Naturgy; Unearthed has done the same. Naturgy were provided with a list of all shipments for Spain that Unearthed had monitored and identified as using Atomflot icebreakers. The company did not respond to this point. 

Where shipments were to France, there were several possible buyers, including Shell. But given the scale of TotalEnergies’ contract (5 million tonnes per year) and the frequency with which icebreakers were assisting shipments destined for Europe (77% of the shipments tracked), it is highly likely that some of these cargoes had been bought by TotalEnergies. The company has not responded at the time of writing.