{"id":842309,"date":"2026-03-22T07:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/842309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:06:20","slug":"damaged-russian-tanker-to-be-towed-to-libya-state-owned-company-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/842309\/","title":{"rendered":"Damaged Russian Tanker to Be Towed to Libya, State-Owned Company Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A damaged Russian gas tanker that was abandoned in the Mediterranean will be towed to a Libyan port, according to a state-owned oil company in the north African country.<\/p>\n<p>The Arctic Metagaz was ferrying about 700 metric tons of fuel and a consignment of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Russia to Egypt when it was hit by a series of explosions on March 3. Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/2026\/03\/04\/ukraine-behind-terrorist-attack-on-russian-lng-tanker-putin-says-a92113\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">accused<\/a> Ukraine of trying to blow it up.<\/p>\n<p>The 30 crew members were rescued, leaving the LNG-laden carrier to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/2026\/03\/20\/attacked-russian-tanker-drifting-toward-libya-italian-authorities-a92292\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drift<\/a> between Malta and Libya for nearly three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Libya&#8217;s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Saturday that it would collaborate with Italian group Eni to fetch the wrecked vessel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManaging this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/2026\/03\/17\/damaged-russian-lng-tanker-poses-grave-environmental-threat-eu-states-warn-a92244\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">environmental threat<\/a> is fully achievable,\u201d NOC said in a statement. \u201cIt will be towed safely to one of the Libyan ports following coordination with the relevant authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\tnews<br \/>\n\t\t<a data-id=\"in-article-block\" class=\"related-article__inner\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/2026\/03\/22\/attacked-russian-tanker-drifting-toward-libya-italian-authorities\" title=\"Attacked Russian Tanker Drifting Toward Libya \u2013 Italian Authorities\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tAttacked Russian Tanker Drifting Toward Libya \u2013 Italian Authorities<br \/>\n\t\t\tRead more<br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The company said it had already taken action to \u201creduce the risk of pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AFP footage taken from a plane earlier this month showed the carrier listing to one side, parts of it blackened and seriously damaged by fire, with two holes on either side in the middle of the hull.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0Italy&#8217;s Civil Protection Department, the carrier is located in international waters, but within the Libyan search and rescue zone.<\/p>\n<p>It said that towing the wreck would be a \u201ccomplex operation\u201d due to the \u201clarge breach along its side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The WWF environmental group warned that any spill could cause long-lasting pollution in the area, among the most biodiverse in the Mediterranean basin.<\/p>\n<p>The ship faced U.S. and European Union sanctions as a suspected part of Russia&#8217;s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d of vessels carrying Russian oil and gas in contravention of international sanctions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Message from The Moscow Times:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dear readers,<\/p>\n<p>We are facing unprecedented challenges. 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It&#8217;s quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.<\/p>\n<p>By supporting The Moscow Times, you&#8217;re defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tContinue\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/payment_icons.png\" alt=\"paiment methods\" width=\"160\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Not ready to support today? <br class=\"hidden-sm-up\"\/>Remind me later.<\/p>\n<p>\u00d7<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<strong>Remind me next month<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThank you! Your reminder is set.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tWe will send you one reminder email a month from now. For details on the personal data we collect and how it is used, please see our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/page\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"privacy policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A damaged Russian gas tanker that was abandoned in the Mediterranean will be towed to a Libyan port,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[728,2199,5443,332,52867,753],"class_list":["post-842309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-environment","tag-italy","tag-lng","tag-russia","tag-shadow-fleet","tag-ukraine-war"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116271565297282053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}