Oil and gas giant Shell idles 2 Russian-owned LNG ships to curb sanctions, criticism 

RIYADH: British oil and gas giant Shell Plc has left idle two Russian-owned liquefied natural gas ships in an attempt to curb potential sanctions and public criticism, Bloomberg reported. 

Shell’s decision was taken as a precaution, even though the ships were used to ferry LNG within Asia, and were not directly under sanctions.

This comes as the European Union has announced that it will strengthen sanctions on Russian vessels.

Owned by Russia’s largest shipping company Sovcomflot, the two vessels — also known as SCF Barents and SCF Timmerman — have been anchored off the coast of Singapore for several weeks.

In its attempt to self-sanction, Shell has agreed to bear the economic costs of its decision. 

The oil and gas giant’s move follows an incident where the firm was under fire last March for buying Russian crude oil at a steep discount.