In September 2023, USA imposed sanctions on two floating LNG terminals, including the Saam FSU, as part of its restrictions on entities involved in key russian energy projects, including russia's Arctic LNG-2.
The projects of the offshore transvesselment complex (OTC) in the Kamchatka Territory and Murmansk Region to optimise logistics and transport costs by organising LNG transvesselment at the eastern and western ends of the Arctic sea route are being implemented by the russian sanctioned company Arctic Transvesselment LLC, a subsidiary of Novatek. The terminals are designed to efficiently transport LNG from Novatek's plants on the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas (Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG-2 and subsequent projects) by transferring it from Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers to conventional vessels. Each of the terminals includes a floating LNG storage facility with a capacity of 360,000 cubic metres and two side-by-side transvesselment points.
On October 17, 2024, Switzerland imposed sanctions on the vessel in connection with promoting, supporting actions or policies aimed at the operation, development or expansion of the energy sector in russia, including energy infrastructure.
The vessel is a floating liquefied natural gas storage facility built for the offshore transvesselment complex of Novatek (one of the largest independent natural gas producers in russia) in the Murmansk region.