China Is Building a Secret Shadow Fleet to Import Sanctioned Russian LNG

China is quietly assembling a “shadow fleet” of tankers to import US-sanctioned Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), a move that could help Moscow evade Western restrictions while deepening Beijing’s energy and political ties with the Kremlin, Bloomberg reported on November 12.

The world’s largest energy importer already buys vast quantities of gas through pipelines—often at discounted rates—but is now expanding its seaborne purchases to diversify supply and strengthen its partnership with Russia, Bloomberg noted.

For Vladimir Putin, LNG exports are a cornerstone of Russia’s post-Europe energy strategy, and the country urgently needs new buyers following the collapse of its traditional markets.

Although the effort is still in its early stages, shipping data now shows Chinese ownership and vessel movements beginning to mirror the opaque patterns seen in Russian oil transport, where Moscow relies on an informal global network of tankers to skirt sanctions.

One such ship, the LNG carrier CCH Gas, is reportedly hiding its location as it approaches a Chinese port while carrying a blacklisted Russian cargo, according to satellite and maritime tracking data cited by Bloomberg.

The vessel’s registered owner, CCH-1 Shipping Co., is linked to a Hong Kong address shared with Samxin Secretarial Services Ltd., a shell company used to obscure beneficial ownership—similar to structures used in sanctioned fuel trading with Iran and Russia.

Another vessel, recently renamed Kunpeng, was spotted near Singapore under similarly opaque ownership arrangements—highly unusual in the LNG industry, which is normally dominated by a small number of transparent, specialized operators.

Equasis data shows that Kunpeng changed ownership earlier this year to obscure firms registered in China and the Marshall Islands, both tied to companies previously involved in sanctioned energy trades.

Bloomberg reported that Russia began building its own LNG shadow fleet last year, accumulating more than a dozen vessels registered under shell companies from Russia to India. The development coincides with intensified US and European sanctions on Russian energy exports in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Creating such a network for LNG is far more complicated than for crude oil. LNG must be kept at -162°C (-260°F) during transport, requiring highly specialized carriers with advanced cryogenic systems. While roughly 8,000 oil tankers are operating globally, the entire LNG fleet numbers fewer than 800, making concealment far more difficult.

Earlier, reports emerged that Yanchang Petroleum, one of China’s largest oil refiners, was diversifying its crude oil sources, seeking non-Russian oil for deliveries from December to February.