TACTICS employed to obfuscate loadings of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and hide the identities of those involved in the trade are increasingly being used in Russian business. It is not entirely clear why.

Lloyd’s List has observed at least 10 instances of Automatic Identification System manipulation in the Baltic over the past 16 months by three LPG carriers, suggesting attempts to hide loadings in Ust-Luga, Russia’s primary export port for Russian LPG.

This has puzzled analysts and sanctions experts queried by Lloyd’s List.

While AIS spoofing is commonplace for loadings of sanctioned oil and LPG from Iran and crude and refined products from Russia, Russian LPG is not subject to the same prohibitions on provision of services under the G7 Price Cap mechanism on crude and refined products.

The EU has banned some LPG imports in December 2024 and announced more restrictions in the recent 19^th sanctions package, but none of the cargoes lifted by the Russia-loading, AIS-spoofing LPG carriers were delivered to Europe.

As no sanctions are apparently being circumvented by these vessels, it is unclear why they engage in AIS manipulation.

Medium gas carrier Falcon (IMO: 9014432), which caught fire in the Gulf of Aden in October while carrying suspected Iranian-origin LPG, was the first to engage in this behaviour in August 2024.

Falcon, which has a history of lifting Iranian LPG, arrived in the Gulf of Finland on August 26, 2024.

It spoofed its location from August 26 to 31, then sailed to Yarimca, Türkiye.

In September 2025 the tanker returned to Iranian trades.

Gas Pacific (IMO: 9102203), a 36,761 cbm, 1996-built gas carrier, was sold in January 2025 to unknown owners, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data.

Its registered owner is Marshall Islands-based single-ship company, Elphin Ventures Limited and Azure Water Incorporation.

Its technical and ISM manager is an Indian company called Midas Marine Shipmanagement Private Limited.

However, from its acquisition in January 2025 until March, it was managed by another India-based shipmanager, Sun Shine Shipmanagement, which has the same phone number as Falcon’s shipmanager, Tanker Expert Shipmanagement, according to Port State Control inspection records.

Since being sold Gas Pacific has been exclusively deployed in lifting LPG from Russia and always doing so while falsifying its AIS data in the Baltic.

The ownership structure of Gas Pacific and its efforts to conceal its activity mimic the patterns and behaviours of the fleet facilitating the trade of sanctioned oil and LPG cargoes, known also as the shadow fleet*.

While the reasons are unclear, another gas carrier, Pacific Moon (IMO: 9253820), displayed the same behaviours moving to an unknown beneficial owner at the end of September.

Pacific Moon is now registered to a Marshall Islands-based entity and is being managed by a single-ship company registered in India called Ship Streamline Solutions Private Limited.

After purchase Pacific Moon sailed to the Gulf of Finland where it manipulated its AIS data for nine days.

Its draught increased after this event, suggesting it loaded during the period it was offline.

At the time of writing Pacific Moon is sailing south through the Red Sea, indicating ‘for orders’.

Most of the Russian cargo loaded during spoofing events in the Baltic were loaded in Ust Luga and delivered to Türkiye, according to Vortexa. Russia is a relatively small player in seaborne LPG trades, accounting for about 0.6% of loadings globally over the past 24 months, according to the analyst.

Türkiye has become a key import market for LPG exports from Ust-Luga in recent years, after many European buyers pulled back from Russian business at the start of the conflict because of self-sanctioning, and later because of the EU’s import prohibitions.  

There is only one completed voyage to date where LPG loaded by the spoofing gas carriers was delivered to a non-Turkish buyer.

At the end of May and in early June Gas Pacific discharged its cargo to the Indian ports of Sikka and Dahej.

Falcon’s shipmanager Tanker Expert has been approached for comment via email. A phone number associated with Midas Marine, Gas Pacific’s shipmanager, did not respond to text messages seeking comment. No contact information was found for Ship Streamline Solutions Private Limited, which manages Pacific Moon. Lloyd’s List has sought comment via email from a company that Lloyd’s List Intelligence identified as the vessel’s operator.