A Russian liquefied gas tanker Arctic Metagaz is on fire in the Mediterranean Sea. This was reported by maritime OSINT-analyst HI Sutton, Greek website Naftemporiki, Times of Malta, as well as profile publication gCaptain.
According to gCaptain, the vessel burst into flames on the morning of 3 March. Video of the fire appeared on Telegram and social network X. It is alleged that there were explosions before the fire. HI Sutton believes the video to be genuine.
Diaplous Group, a Greek company specialising in maritime safety and risk management, confirmed the fire. The Naftemporiki website claims a Russian vessel is on fire off the coast of Libya.
According to one of the versions, the gas carrier was attacked by Ukrainian drones from the territory of Libya, where special forces of the Ukrainian military intelligence work. This version is followed by Naftemporiki, without providing confirmation.
According to The Insider, on February 18, Arctic Metagaz loaded liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a floating storage unit Saam (FSU) owned by Novatek, drifting under the flag of Russia about 50 kilometres northwest of Murmansk.
Arctic Metagaz then travelled around the UK and Spain and entered the Mediterranean Sea. According to Starboard Maritime Intelligence data provided to The Insider, the Arctic Metagaz disabled its automatic identification system (AIS) on the evening of 2 March as it exited Malta’s exclusive economic zone. No distress signals were received from the tanker, Naftenporiki notes.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the gas carrier Arctic Metagaz is a vessel involved in the transport of sanctioned LNG from the Russian project “Arctic LNG-2” to the Chinese terminal Beihai. Such vessels often transmit perverted positioning data (AIS) during voyages, which is a violation of international maritime law.
The Russian Arctic LNG-2 project is under US and UK sanctions.