Russia Launches Sea Trials of Its First Ice-Class LNG Vessel

Russia’s first ice-class LNG tanker built at a domestic shipyard has started trials at sea, according to vessel-tracking data from LSEG cited by Reuters. Russia, which has seen sanctions pile up on its LNG projects and the ships it uses to carry the liquefied natural gas, looks to boost its LNG exports despite the U.S. and other Western sanctions. The new ice-class tanker, Alexey Kosygin, has been built at the Zvezda shipyard, Russia’s flagship shipbuilding yard. The vessel is expected to service deliveries from the Arctic LNG 2 project…