A stocky blue 980-foot-long tanker named Christophe de Margerie sailed from Russia’s far-north Yamal Peninsula to the Bering Strait near Alaska in May, two months before such ships usually pass through a major Arctic sea route. The vessel carried and ran on liquefied natural gas, accompanied by the icebreaker Yamal on the 12-day journey. Record-low ice levels along the route allowed its Russian owner, Sovcomflot, to ship the fossil fuel to China, completing the earliest voyage of its kind yet. If the milestone signals big opportunity for oil and gas producers, it also embodies two troubling trends for the rest of the planet. More large ships Like the Christophe de Margerie are running on liquefied natural gas, or LNG. That switch is resulting in higher emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to a new report by international shipping experts. The vessel’s voyage also comes as Arctic ship […]