An LNG tanker carrying Russian gas docked in Boston on Jan. 28, despite U.S. sanctions aimed at punishing President Vladimir Putin’s government for interference in Ukraine.

The natural gas cargo delivered did not violate any trade laws, a spokesperson for a port terminal said.

The French-flagged Gaselys docked after an unusual Atlantic voyage that at one point included a U-turn. The ship moored in Everett, Mass., and began offloading its cargo on Jan. 28 at Engie’s LNG Import Terminal. The ship is expected to take about a day to move the LNG off before departing on Jan. 29, said Carol Churchill, an Engie spokesperson.

The LNG delivery comes as political tensions and energy competition rise between the U.S. and the Russian Federation.

At least part of the cargo originated from the $27 billion Yamal LNG facility in Siberia, Russia. Putin personally launched the first cargo from the facility in December 2017 by “commanding” a tanker to begin loading, according to an official statement by the Kremlin.

Yamal is majority owned by Novatek, an independent Russian company that receives gas from Russia’s Gazprom. In 2014 and 2017, sanctions enacted against Russia bar U.S. citizens from engaging in certain financial transactions with Novatek.

The Yamal facility is not named as a sanctioned company. However, the U.S. Treasury Department’s guidance notes that any “any entity owned in the aggregate, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by one or more blocked persons is itself considered to be a blocked person.”

Churchill said U.S. sanctions don’t prevent the delivery of LNG or oil cargoes from Russia.

“This shipment is compliant with all U.S. trade laws,” she said.

The U.S. and Russia are likely to meet head-to-head as both nations vie for LNG market share, though the U.S. is widely expected to dominate the trade and eventually compete with gas-rich Qatar.

The countries will face off as South Korean trade officials replace more than 4 million tonnes per year of Korea Gas Corp.’s contracts with potential volumes from Russia’s Yamal and the U.S. Gulf Coast, said Magnus Fyhr, an analyst at Seaport Global Securities.

The Russian LNG delivery also illustrates the steep cost of transporting gas and the artificially high prices some New England consumers face in harsh winters. Cold temperatures have driven up the price of natural gas in areas tantalizingly close—but largely closed off—to the massive reserves of the Marcellus Shale. Pipeline projects have been stifled by local opposition and low commodity prices.

In July 2015, Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) proposed a $3.3 billion line from New York to Massachusetts to “help alleviate New England’s uniquely high natural gas and electricity costs.” The project drew objections from community and environmental groups and prominent Democrats, including the state’s U.S. senators, Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey.

Kinder Morgan canceled the project in April 2016, citing inadequate capacity commitments. It is now working on an expansion project in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

This isn’t the Gaselys’ first trip to the harbor. In the first three weeks of January, the ship delivered nearly 5 billion cubic feet of gas at an average price of $6.06 per million British thermal unit. The country of origin for the cargoes is listed as the Republic of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela.

Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.

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