Boris Johnson said last week that the government is working on policies that will reduce British reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.

Mr Shapps said on Monday that Russian vessels will be banned from the country to prevent energy sales to Britain from funding the war against Ukraine.

Soon afterwards, analysts said that the Christophe de Margerie’s captain had updated its destination to Montoir in western France.

The tanker, chartered by the Russian gas company Novatek, left the Yamal LNG terminal in northern Russia at the weekend and would have been the first shipment from Russia to the UK since the invasion began, according to S&P Global Platts.

The UK gets more than 20pc of its gas via LNG shipments from around the world including from Qatar, Russia, and the US.

Last year Russia sent 29 shipments of LNG to the UK, up from 22 in 2020.

Britain is not heavily reliant on Russian gas. But energy prices in Britain are tied to the European market.

Japan has already cooperated with requests from EU and US ambassadors to divert gas shipments to Europe. European Commission officials also held talks with suppliers in Qatar, the US and Azerbaijan earlier this year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc will “diversify” its energy sources.

Speaking before the Ukraine invasion, she said: “A strong European Union cannot be so reliant on an energy supplier that threatens to start a war on our continent. Gazprom, a Russian state-owned company, is deliberately trying to store and deliver as little as possible.”