Russia Boosts Use of Sanctioned Tankers to Export Its Oil

Over the past weeks, Russia has been using a growing number of oil tankers sanctioned by the West to export its oil, in a move suggesting that Moscow has become more successful in defying U.S. and EU restrictions.

A total of six oil tankers sanctioned by the U.S., the EU, or the UK loaded oil cargoes from Russia in August, and at least another six have done the same so far in September, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

The data showed that at least 17 sanctioned tankers have left Russian ports loaded with oil since the end of April. The trend now appears to be accelerating, with mostly tankers owned by Russian state tanker fleet operator Sovcomflot loading cargoes.

At the end of last year, the U.S. started to ramp up sanctions on entities carrying Russian oil, aiming to stifle Putin's revenues and address the violations of the price cap mechanism under which Russian oil can be transported on Western-owned, insured, or financed tankers only if the price is crude is $60 per barrel or below.

In February 2024, the U.S. Treasury and State targeted Sovcomflot and more than a dozen tankers linked to the Russian state-owned fleet operator.

The EU has also designated vessels of the so-called ‘dark fleet’ that Russia has amassed. The UK has explicitly targeted vessels in Putin's shadow fleet, used by Russia to circumvent UK and G7 sanctions, in its first sanctions directly aimed at the dark fleet, which is estimated to have grown to more than 600 tankers known to have shipped sanctioned oil at least once.

In response to Bloomberg’s queries, Sovcomflot, also known as SCF, has said that since it doesn’t have connections to Western countries, it cannot be viewed as a subject to these sanctions.

“Hence, SCF cannot be regarded as an ‘offender’ nor as a tool to undermine sanctions,” Sovcomflot told Bloomberg.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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