Two Weeks After Explosion ‘Arctic Metagaz’ Drifts Back Into Libyan Waters Amid Continued Fears of Explosion and Environmental Disaster

After two weeks as a “ghost ship” drifting across the Mediterranean, the abandoned Russian-flagged LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz has returned to Libyan search and rescue waters, still leaking gas and still posing what Italian authorities call a “substantial hazard.”

Arctic Metagaz’s erratic voyage has unfolded like a slow motion maritime thriller. Italy’s Civil Protection agency (Protezione Civile) confirmed Wednesday that the vessel, crippled by an explosion 170 nautical miles off Malta earlier this month, has drifted south on prevailing currents back into Libya’s responsibility zone. 

Two of the ship’s four liquefied natural gas tanks remain intact, but officials told Italian broadcaster Radio24 that the volume of LNG left inside is unknown. Malta continues to enforce a five nautical mile exclusion zone around the derelict tanker.

“The dispersion of gas is a very concrete possibility,” a spokesperson for Protezione Civile said.

From its initial explosion, reportedly caused by a drone strike, Arctic Metagaz has wandered through three search and rescue areas: Libya’s, Malta’s, and Italy’s, without any state assuming ownership. 

Earlier this week, six southern EU members, Italy, France, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus, warned the European Commission that Arctic Metagaz posed “a major ecological and maritime hazard.” 

According to their joint letter, the ship could still carry hundreds of tonnes of condensed methane and up to 800 tonnes of oil products, any of which could ignite or spill if the hull ruptures.

Undersecretary to Italy’s Prime Minister, Alfredo Mantovano, told Radio24 that Rome had placed emergency assets, chemical response vessels and specialized containment teams, on standby. 

“If asked by Malta or by the EU, we are ready to intervene within hours,” he said. But until an official request arrives, the ship remains in legal limbo, at the mercy of wind and current.

“The vessel is an environmental bomb that risks doing serious damage to the entire surrounding area,” he continued.

The vessel’s ownership adds another layer of complexity. The Arctic Metagaz is registered under a Russian company LLC SMP Techmanagement reportedly tied to state gas giant Novatek. 

Moscow has condemned the initial explosion as “an act of terrorism,” while Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement.

If Ukrainian forces did hit the ship it would mark one of the first strikes so far south of the combat zone, dramatically expanding the war’s maritime footprint and retouring Russian gas shipments. Russian LNG carriers have since detoured away from the Mediterranean instead rounding the southern tip of Africa.

Editorial Standards · Corrections · About gCaptain

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 107,352 members