Danish Yard Takes a Third Russian-Linked LNG Tanker Before the January Ban
Six Arc7 carriers are due through Odense while the flag and ownership loophole stays open
The Fayard yard in Odense is set to take the Arc7 LNG carrier Boris Davydov, which serves Russia's Yamal LNG plant, the third Russian-linked gas carrier it will have serviced this summer. Six Arc7 units are expected through the yard before an EU ban takes effect in January.
It is the only European yard still doing this work. A French repair yard at Brest stopped maintenance on Russia-linked vessels in August 2025. The Danish yard has drawn heavy criticism for continuing, including from the country's own prime minister.
The opening is a matter of paperwork rather than principle. The vessels sail under foreign flags, in the Boris Davydov's case Cyprus, and are not owned, managed or certified by a Russian entity, which has kept them outside the reach of measures aimed at Russian tonnage. The EU's twentieth sanctions package closes that route from January by prohibiting technical assistance, financial services and brokering for foreign-owned LNG vessels operating in Russia.
The vessel in question has delivered at least 50 cargoes from Yamal since her last refit at the same yard in September 2023, cargoes worth about $2.2 billion.
Yamal itself has largely escaped Western measures, unlike the heavily sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project, and it accounts for more than 60 percent of Russian LNG exports from a capacity of 17.4 million tonnes a year. Imports from the plant hit a record in the first half of 2026: 136 cargoes carrying 9.97 million tonnes reached bloc countries between January and June, up 16 percent year on year, and more than 97 percent of Yamal's deliveries in the period went to EU ports.
The record on tightening has been mixed. Short-term LNG contracts with Russia have been outlawed since April, an import ban takes effect on 1 January, and pipeline gas becomes illegal to import from 30 September 2027. A proposed ban on European firms carrying Russian LNG to third countries was dropped after Greek objections that the trade would simply move to Chinese and Japanese operators without reducing Russian revenue, and one Greek owner has been allowed to continue: vessels linked to that company moved 57 cargoes and 4.14 million tonnes out of the Arctic plant between January and July, 35 percent of Yamal's total exports.
