Russia is stepping up its use of sanctioned tankers to export its oil

In recent weeks, Russia has used an increasing number of Western-sanctioned tankers to export its oil, in a move that suggests Moscow has been more successful in defying US and EU restrictions.

A total of six tankers sanctioned by the US, EU or Britain loaded oil cargoes from Russia in August and at least six more have done so 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 late April. The trend now appears to be accelerating, with most of the tankers owned by Russian state tanker fleet operator Sovcomflot loading cargo.

Late last year, the U.S. began ramping up sanctions against entities that transport Russian oil, aimed at stifling Putin’s revenues and addressing violations of the price cap mechanism under which Russian oil can be transported with Western capital, insured or funded. tankers only if the price of crude oil is $60 per barrel or below.

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

The EU has also designated ships 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 evade UK and G7 sanctions, in its first sanctions to directly target the dark fleet, which is estimated to have grown to more than 600 tankers on who are known to have transported sanctioned oil at least once.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, Sovcomflot, also known as SCF, said that because it has no ties to Western countries, it cannot be considered a subject of these sanctions.

“Therefore, the SCF cannot be seen as a ‘criminal’ nor as a tool to undermine sanctions,” Sovcomflot told Bloomberg.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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