Gas carriers change identity ahead of Arctic operations
Four LNG tankers currently sailing together on the Northern Sea Route changed their names, flag states, and managers as they headed towards the icy waters.
On 15 October, four powerful LNG carriers sailed through the Bering Strait and into the Sea of Okhotsk, all with freshly painted letters on their hulls.
The ships—the Oneiroi (IMO 9958327), Melicertes (IMO 9958303), Neleus (IMO 9958315), and Aeolus (IMO 9958298)—had been renamed shortly before their Arctic voyage, data from Equasis, a ship information system, shows.
Their previous names were North Valley, North Moon, North Ocean, and North Light.
The ships were all built at the Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Okpo, South Korea, in 2024 and 2025, and were until recently owned and operated by the Korean shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines.
Along with the name change came a change of flag state and ownership. On 1 September 2026, all the ships changed flag states from Singapore to Panama. Similarly, they all share the same ISM manager—the company responsible for ensuring that a vessel complies with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code.
Most likely, all four tankers are connected with Novatek, the Russian natural gas company that owns and operates Russia’s two biggest LNG plants, Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2.
Interestingly, three of the ships—the North Moon, North Ocean, and North Light—were added to the EU sanctions list in May 2025, but were then excluded from the list four months later. According to Reuters, the exclusion followed a guarantee from the company not to participate in the transportation of LNG from Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2.
One year later, the four ships might once again be liable for sanctions.
On 19 October, the tankers sailed into the Kara Sea, ship traffic data show. They are likely to proceed to the Gulf of Ob, where they will load LNG at either Yamal LNG or Arctic LNG 2.
The four carriers are probably part of the growing fleet of LNG tankers serving Novatek and its Arctic operations. As previously reported, Novatek now has a fleet of more than 18 tankers serving the Arctic LNG 2 project alone.
Once included in the fleet, the four carriers will rejoin their sister vessels—the Buran, Voskhod, Iris, and Zarya, which previously carried the names North Air, North Mountain, North Sky, and North Way.
All of the latter are sanctioned by the EU, the USA, and many other countries.
