The Russian tanker Arctic Metagas has been drifting in the Mediterranean Sea for the third week with a large hole – possibly caused by a drone attack (Russia claims it was attacked by Ukrainian drone boats, but there is no independent confirmation of this account).
There are more than 60 thousand tons of liquefied natural gas on board. The crew was evacuated. The risk of an environmental disaster is increasing day by day, but due to a number of legal and political conflicts, no one wants to take on the task of preventing it.
“Arctic Metagas” It is a gas tanker, meaning a tanker that transports liquefied natural gas. It was built in 2003 and flies the Russian flag. The tanker was transporting gas from Arctic LNG 2, Russia’s largest LNG plant located on the Gydan Peninsula in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the resource base is the Utrini field in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). This project is controlled by Novatek. After the outbreak of the great war between Russia and Ukraine, he found himself under Western sanctions. Arctic Metagas ownership structure He hid With the help of gasket companies.
Arctic Metagas is part of the “shadow fleet” with which Russia exports oil and gas to circumvent sanctions. In 2025, without a classroom on ice, Pass Northern Sea Route and deliver goods to China. vessel I entered On the sanctions lists of the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.
On February 24, Arctic Metagas left Murmansk and loaded LNG into the floating terminal. It circled Europe, entered the Mediterranean Sea, and headed toward the Suez Canal. The final destination of his route was probably somewhere in Asia.
On March 3, an explosion and fire occurred on board a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The gas tanker was drilled. The crew – about 30 people – were evacuated on boats. according to statement Russian Foreign Ministry, Malta did not want to rescue the crew members, and Libya accepted them. More precisely, the so-called “eastern government” of Libya with Benghazi as its capital – not the UN-recognized government in Tripoli. The de facto head of the “Government of the East” is General Khalifa Haftar, who has close relations with the UAE and Russia.
The damaged tanker was left drifting without a crew between Malta, Italy and Libya. It carries tens of thousands of tons of liquefied natural gas, in addition to hundreds of tons of diesel and fuel oil. Mediterranean countries, including Italy, He has been contacted To the European Commission with a call for measures to prevent the environmental catastrophe that could occur if fuel ends up at sea.
No one takes responsibility for saving the ship. Since Arctic Metagas is subject to sanctions and its formal ownership structure is so confusing, a legal vacuum has been created. Moreover, soon the ship It turns out In the maritime region of Libya, it is a country where there is no unified government in reality.