Norway holds Arctic LNG 2 heavy-lift ship as four renamed LNG carriers enter the Kara Sea

Norwegian authorities have detained the sanctioned heavy-lift ship Ya Qing Hai Yang, the former Ocean 28, which carried equipment for Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project. The ship was stopped off the Norwegian coast on 14 October and was still there on 19 October. Norway has confirmed the detention.

In October 2024 the ship delivered power-generation modules from China to Utrenny, the port that serves Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 plant on the Gydan Peninsula, and was sanctioned over that voyage. Earlier this month she was tracked a few kilometres from the Norwegian border on the Russian side, after a voyage from Hong Kong along the Northern Sea Route with several calls in Russia's Far East. She was sailing under the flag of Guatemala, which keeps no public ship register, and the flag has been classed as potentially false.

A second ship, the Chinese-flagged general cargo vessel Jian Yang Cheng He, was also stopped. She is not sanctioned and no link to Russian energy projects has been established. She too left Hong Kong in July and came along the Northern Sea Route before being held near Norway.

Where are the four LNG carriers going?

Further east, four LNG carriers that were sailing the Northern Sea Route together have changed their names, flag and manager. On 15 October they passed through the Bering Strait as Oneiroi, Melicertes, Neleus and Aeolus. Until shortly before the voyage they were North Valley, North Moon, North Ocean and North Light, built at Hanwha Ocean's Okpo yard in 2024 and 2025 and until recently operated by Mitsui OSK Lines. All four moved from the Singapore to the Panama flag on 1 September 2026 and now share one ISM manager.

On 19 October the four entered the Kara Sea, and they are expected to continue to the Gulf of Ob to load at Yamal LNG or Arctic LNG 2, both run by Novatek. Three of them, North Moon, North Ocean and North Light, were put on the EU sanctions list in May 2025 and removed four months later, after the company gave a guarantee that the ships would not carry LNG from either plant. The four were already moving into a structure linked to Novatek earlier this month, when a new Busan manager took over their management.

Why does this matter for sanctions?

Once in the Novatek fleet, the four will join their sister ships Buran, Voskhod, Iris and Zarya, formerly North Air, North Mountain, North Sky and North Way, all of which are sanctioned by the EU, the US and other countries. Novatek already has a fleet of more than 18 tankers serving Arctic LNG 2 alone. Earlier in October the UK sanctioned vessels acquired to keep Russian LNG revenue flowing, including newbuild tankers intended for Arctic routes.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 25 October 2026.