The Cristophe de Margerie, an LNG carrier commissioned by French Total, has become the first tanker to pass the Arctic unaided and is now en route to its destination in Asia, the South Korean port of Boryeong, Total said as quoted by AFP. The route via the Bering Strait in the Arctic is 15 days—or 50 percent—shorter than the traditional route for tankers through the Suez Canal, but until recently it was impossible to make the journey without aid from other vessels. Now, climate change has melted some of the ice, making the shorter journey possible without the need for icebreaker escort. Christophe de Margerie, named after the previous chief executive of the French company, who died in a plane crash three years ago, is the first of a fleet of 15 LNG carriers that will carry gas extracted in Yamal, in northwestern Siberia, to Asia via the Northern […]