[RUSSIAN FOSSIL FUEL EXPORTS] Stop Seapeak campaign

In partnership with Ukrainian-led and environmental organisations, we have mounted a sustained campaign against Seapeak, a Glasgow-based business which ships Russian gas.

Seapeak is one of the world’s largest owner-operators of tankers and is transporting $4 billion worth of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Siberia to Belgium, France and Spain every year.

As well as undermining international sanctions against Russia, the LNG trade has a devastating environmental impact.

In response to a Sky News report highlighting Seapeak’s role in financing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, USCS members staged a demonstration outside the company’s Glasgow HQ in July 2024, which was covered in The National.

We are in close contact with Razom We Stand, a Ukrainian organisation active internationally and calling for a total and permanent embargo on Russian fossil fuels and an immediate end to all investment into Russian oil and gas companies. It has published a detailed briefing on what the UK can do to disrupt Russian gas exports.

Svitlana Romanko, founder and executive director of Razom We Stand, has written about Seapeak:

“As long as British companies like Seapeak continue to help Russia export its gas, the UK is failing to live up to its moral responsibility. The loopholes in the sanctions are glaring, and the time to close them is now. For the Ukrainian people, Europe’s energy security, and the climate, we simply cannot afford to wait any longer.”

Both the previous and current UK governments have refused to agree to new sanctions targeting companies like Seapeak. Political pressure is necessary to overcome this intransigence.

In October 2024, a number of MSPs signed a motion calling for “sanctions on Russian exports to reduce Russia’s ability to finance what it sees as its war of aggression, including on its exports of climate-damaging fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas” and saying that “any Scotland-based companies involved in the transportation of Russian LNG should not receive any financial or other assistance from the Scottish Government”.

Also in October 2024, the Daily Record gave a welcome endorsement to the campaign on the same day it ran a front-page news story directly linking Seapeak’s activities to the Russian war on Ukraine. Our demands

• Seapeak stop shipping Russian gas.
• Stop funding Russia’s war. Effective sanctions now.
• The new Labour government should ban UK-based companies from shipping or insuring the transport of Russian gas.
• For a just peace in Ukraine – all Russian troops out of Ukraine now.
• For a just and urgent transition to renewable energy sources.

Take action to support our campaign

• Sign our public appeal on behalf of yourself or an organisation.
• Ask your trade union branch or committee to support our Stop Seapeak campaign. Consider using our model motion.
• Write to your MP and MSPs to seek their support for sanctions against all companies trafficking Russian fossil fuels.
• Share this page with your contacts to raise awareness of Seapeak’s disgraceful role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Raise Seapeak whenever possible at Ukrainian and climate justice events and demonstrations.

Join or affiliate to USCS and/or contact uscscotland@gmail.com to discuss how we can support you in taking any of the actions above.