Satellite images taken on Oct 18 and Oct 23 show the Chinese LNG tanker, CCH Gas, immediately parallel to the Perle, a ship carrying LNG fuel from the Portovaya plant on Russia’s Baltic coast, which was blacklisted by the US in January.
The Perle itself was also sanctioned at the time. The position of the two vessels is typical of a ship-to-ship transfer, which can take several days.
Pacific Gas, a firm with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, took over ownership of CCH Gas earlier this year, according to the people, who declined to be named discussing a sensitive matter.
The company is primarily the owner of liquid petroleum gas vessels.
The transfer would be the first documented occurrence of a Chinese-owned vessel assisting with the transport of blacklisted Russian LNG, and as such is a test of the White House’s measures to curb Moscow’s energy revenues that it’s using to fund its war in Ukraine.
China began importing US-sanctioned Russian LNG in late August, a move that coincided with a visit to Beijing by president Vladimir Putin.
Moscow has a longstanding agreement with Beijing to supply gas via overland pipelines that isn’t subject to US measures.
Pacific Gas, a unit of state-owned Shandong Marine Energy Group, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, the company said it owned a single LNG vessel as of September. In its previous report, it said it didn’t own any LNG vessels.
CCH Gas, previously known as Condor LNG, was owned by Greek-shipping firm TMS Cardiff Gas until earlier in 2025, according to shipping database Equasis.
In an emailed statement, Cardiff Gas confirmed that the vessel had been sold, though it didn’t name the buyer.
Cardiff Gas said it didn’t sell the vessel to Pacific Gas. It is common for dark fleet tankers to have ownership change multiple times before landing on the ships ultimate operator.
A Hong Kong-based firm called CCH-1 Shipping Co has been registered as the owner of CCH Gas since May, according to Equasis.
Its address is listed as a postbox company, Samxin Secretarial Services Ltd, in a industrial building in the city.
On visiting the company, a Bloomberg reporter found the door locked with no-one available to comment.
CCH Gas had been idling off the coast of Singapore and Malaysia since around February, according to ship-tracking and satellite images.
The vessel secured a crew around end-August or early-September, said people with knowledge of the matter.
It then moved to its current location in eastern Malaysia in October.
The ship’s signaling is currently masking its whereabouts, a common practice by shadow-fleet vessels engaged in illicit trade.